Living without cable is kind of nice.

It's amazing that I really don't mind not having TV.  I sort of thought it would be the death of me.  I can watch all my "important" shows (read: Gossip Girl, Modern Family, and any NBC Thursday night show) on Hulu.  I told D the only thing I really miss is (brace yourselves) Real Housewives.  I can't find all the eps on Bravo and really miss the catty reunions!  I do get annoyed having to wait an entire week for Gossip Girl to be posted online.  Nonetheless, we have Netflix and can watch so many shows/movies instantly.  One of my new favorite shows is BBC's Skins.

I'm sort of obsessed.  (Anyone watch it?!)  It's kind of a teen drama except since it's BBC, they show a lot more drug use, sex, boobs, and cuss a lot.  It is fabulous.  To my knowledge there are only three seasons though, and the characters from the first two seasons leave after the second season.  I'll need to fins a new show once I finish Skins in probably a week.

I haven't just been watching trashy teen drama though!  I told you I was reading like a maniac.  Last updated I was reading Life of Pi.  I already finished that shit!  I have to say though, I wasn't super impressed.  Maybe others built it up for me.  Don't get me wrong.  I definitely wanted to keep reading and not put the book down.  The end just didn't wow me.  It's definitely worth a read though!  Since Life of Pi, I've moved on to American Psycho.

I'm not sure what I expected, but this book is weird.  It's posing to be a hard read for me for a couple of reasons.  There are a LOT of filler information.  The narrator feels the need to tell you every single designer brand of every single article of clothing, shoes, jewelery, etc. on each character in each scene.  There was literally a whole chapter on the band Genesis.  I'm still confused about what this had to do with anything.  The book also has a lot of pages with small print and lots of words.  I'm not flying through it as I thought I would.  There are also some very graphic sex scenes.  I don't necessarily have a problem with the sex scenes, but they were totally unexpected for me.  Gossip Girl totally referenced the book last Monday...love.  I'll let you know how I feel after I'm done reading.

Also, apparently there is an American Psycho movie.  Not sure how I missed this, but Christian Bale is the main character.  If that picture doesn't freak you out a bit, you are dead to the world.  I don't necessarily picture the narrator/psycho as Christian (maybe I can only have him as Batman), but this picture freaks me the fuck out.  Next on my list is Brave New World and Ham on Rye.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Everyone always wants the bad news first.  I got an email today (finally) from the AP of the elementary school regarding the interview.  AP stated after talking to the principal about protocol of interviewing within county (especially mid-year), it was decided, as a respect to colleagues, that I should not be interviewed at this time.  It is totally and completely understandable but still felt like a tiny bit of a blow since I had gotten my hopes up.  No hard feelings though...it's pretty shitty to "steal" another teacher from a school and leave them high and dry.  If I did leave mid-year, I think there may always be a twinge of guilt and feeling of giving up.  I'm not a quitter! (Although I'd love to leave my one particular class of hellions in my dust).

On to the good!  The AP said that they really want to have me at this particular school and to PLEASE (she literally capitalized please) keep them in mind for next year!  Yay :)  It's good to know that higher ups have me in mind as a candidate for positions.  It's a really wonderful feeling.  AND in other fabulous news...

[Holy effing crap, I can not even wait]

I got our tickets to see Harry Potter!!!  I opted for the Sunday 1:00 show.  I know it'll still be crazy packed, but I thought it may be a little lighter than Friday or Saturday shows.  The Sunday 4:00 show at the IMAX in Raleigh is already sold out though.  Who cares about a line?!  I may even get there an hour early.  OMG.  For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past six months...

This is serious.  I am ridiculously excited!

I didn't think I had any "ugly" at first.  Then I got to thinking about school.  Can I please say how unpleasant some of the teachers are?!  There is one who is so rude and condescending towards me.  I'm not sure if it's because I am new, young, a female, or what.  I can't seem to win with this teacher.  They all seem to greatly dislike the administration (principal and assistance principals).  I don't understand why they stay at this school if they hate it there.  Then there is the other staff (front desk, custodial, etc.) who are just plan rude to you and act like anything you ask of them is an inconvenience.  I don't get it.  Is it me? 

To end on a positive Harry-themed note...how crazy/awesome is this...

[Wow.]

The little runner who could.

Remember back in October when I signed up for the Monster Dash?  Well I did it!

[You can't see my cat tail that I ended up with when I searched the Halloween store for 45 minutes...Pre-race]

Well my goal was to not come in last (which the goal quickly changed to finishing without walking).  I'm happy to say I met both goals :)  I don't know what the hell kind of shape I was in before.  It was effing hard to run the entire 5k!  JA and I came around the last corner and had the finish line in sight.  The clock was ticking.  JA gave me a push and said, "Come on, let's make it under 40."  I literally said, "I can't."  I cringe at those words now.  I honestly did not think I could speed up any faster.  I may have sped up a few milliseconds worth; I used all my energy left to cross the finish line.  I made it in at 40 minutes and 10 seconds.  I'm proud of it! We did it.  It was hot as hell at 2:30 with the sun beating down on us.  Next time, I'm going to finish in 39 minutes.  I also get to mark this off my 101 in 1001!

I'm still trying to figure out what D and I are doing for Thanksgiving holidays.  If we stay in Raleigh, JA and I are going to run the Turkey Trot 8k.  I want to stay in Raleigh just to run that :)

Update:  Official times found here stated I came in at 40:11 with a pace of 12:57.

Stress headaches.

You know things are bad when you get a stress headache on a day that you're giving students a test.  I really appreciate all the feedback from last week's post.  My head is a little clearer today (minus the stress headache that is haunting me).  I got advice from friends and family about what I should do/how I should handle the additional teaching opportunity.  Advice was pretty much unanimous that I should at least go for an interview.  Valid points were raised all around.  No harm can be done in an interview.  One of the main benefits (in my head) is that it'll allow me the opportunity to better gauge if that particular job is really a good fit for me.  We'll see. I still haven't had an interview/informal meeting, but keeping my fingers crossed for this week (and she has been in contact with me.

Since I haven't updated in a bit (I'm lucky if I can gather the energy to write one post per week), but I'm taking a bit of down time tonight (which should probably be used to plan but...for lack of a better phrase...fuck it) to schedule some posts for this week.

Let's take a MAJOR rewind to early October when my friend CAP (now, CAPM) got hitched in Athens.  Remember?  Well I finally uploaded my personal pics.  It really was such a wonderful time to reminisce with some people that were a large part of my life (and played a big part in me getting to where I am today).  It makes me wish that I could make it down to Athens more. 

[My long lost KD, now residing in the...interesting? state of Alabama]

[June 2011!  Next to get hitched!]

[Hungry and dreading the long trip home...but we had fun nonetheless]

[Small cakes adorned each table...adorable idea]

[AB to the left is my social worker role model/hero.  KD has a weird obsession with babies...I can not even relate]

[Since we had to jet out quickly, this is the only picture I got with the bride.  She was stunning though!]

As if we all haven't noticed the onslaught of political ads...

It's that time of year again.  Election day!  Just a reminder to inform yourself about the candidates in your area and be a good American and go vote!

[via weheart it]

After the demise that was yesterday's post, I decided I wanted to go back to a year ago and see where I was.  Wow.  It's amazing how things change in one year.  I wasn't married.  I was still fervently looking for a job.  I had just gone through a strenuous process to get accepted to Teach for America only to get rejected. I remember the exact moment that I found out.  I got the email on my phone.  I remember the feelings.  I remember the frustration of feeling like I let D down.  I remember not knowing what I would do next.  Then a few months later, I got a job offer...teaching.  I wish I could send a letter to Teach for America telling them to go fuck themselves.  I won't get started on that again though.  As much frustration that middle school is causing me right now, I really am so grateful.  Goodness knows if I was a part of Teach for America, I'd probably be stuck in a middle school for two whole years.  If I don't switch schools until next school year, at least I have the ability to do it.  We were able to move out of Georgia and I fell in love with Raleigh.  I'm so happy to be able to spend our first winter/holiday season as newlyweds in our new home.  I hope we can spend a bit of money on clearanced xmas decor at Target (because let's face it, we haven't even unpacked...we won't be focusing on xmas decor this year)!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some snow here too :)

Inspiration downfall.

On Saturday, I mentioned how much I love fall.  Yet today I am feeling without inspiration of something to write about.  I've been too busy to think about decorating our new house.  I've been too tight with money to buy any new clothes or shoes (which I'm dying for shoes right now).  We don't have cable so I'm not watching as much TV.  I've been talking about running in practically every post so I don't want to bore you with that.  I've been eating terribly lately.  I'm still dreaming of traveling somewhere, but I talk about that all the time too.  I'm in a writing slump.  So what has actually been on my mind lately, well I'll summarize:

• Which Praxis test to take next
• I want to teach elementary school, not middle school
• The fact that I want to run a race every month to keep myself motivated to run
• Eating...specifically what I can eat that is terrible for me and cancels out any running I've actually done
• How to survive the rest of this school year/is there anyway I can transfer to another school without burning bridges
• Ray LaMontagne 
• Books I've been reading and movies I've been watching while D has been out of town
• How I should totally be going to classes at the gym, yet I am not
• What the heck I am going to do for xmas gifts this year

Half of this stuff means nothing to you and it's highly probable that you do not even care.  Obviously the majority of my thinking time is spent wondering about school.  I'll be honest...middle school students are not for me. I still love (most of) my students.  I still love teaching.  I still like teaching middle school more than I ever thought I would.  My heart always was with younger children.  I can't handle the attitude and disrespect of middle schoolers.  It's partially my fault; it's partially their fault.  The administration (principal and assistant principals) at my school is unsupportive.  One AP in particular is rude and has mildly humiliated me in front of co-workers.  I'm dealing myself another hand (planning to take Praxis tests to become certified in other areas) and preparing to switch schools as soon as possible.  In my county, there are a couple of positions open that I would die to have.  My problem is that I feel some loyalty to my school.  They hired me in the middle of last year as an uncertified teacher with zero experience teaching.  I unofficially committed a year (or two) to the school.  I'm sure I could sit down with the principal and have a heart to heart about it, but it really doesn't excuse leaving mid-year.  Where does that leave my students too?  Then I also wonder if someone else couldn't do a better job with them than I am currently doing.  Would a better teaching opportunity pass me by because of my loyalties?  I hear the first year being a teacher is the hardest.  I'm not giving up.  I always knew elementary was the place for me.  

Again, sorry for a lackluster post.  I know a lot of this doesn't make sense.  These questions/thoughts/ideas are occupying most of my mind recently. 

To end on another note, I do daily free-writing with my two language arts classes.  They can write about anything, but I also supply them with a topic (since most of them "don't know what to write about" if I just leave it open).  One day the topic was "Finish this phrase, 'Life is like...'"  A few of them said, "Life is like a roller coaster."  They all put different reasons why.  They're right though.  In August/September, I was on an up.  The high lasted even as I was going down.  I was starting the school year, things were going well.  We were happy looking at houses, etc.  I was doing wonderfully working out and felt good about myself again.  Then I hit that dip.  I'm not quite sure what the roller coaster will do next...

 

Sorry for the cheesiness of the roller coaster analogy.  Hopefully inspired posts will be coming soon.

Fall is wonderful.

Although here in NC, we're still balancing between highs in the mid-80s one day and in the low-70s the next.  Oh global warming Mother nature.  There is something I love about the cooler weather, leaves changing, pumpkin spice flavors, heated blankets, and the holidays.  Since I'm too busy on Hulu catching up on my shows, my post will reflect it.  I hope to take some time on Saturday to schedule some posts for next week though! 

I'm SUPER excited about the...

[This is that cute graphic I was telling you about!]

Me and my friend JDA are running it.  I'm so happy that I found a running buddy (and newfound friend here in Raleigh!).  JDA actually has a lot more experience than I do with races.  Her and her family have done quite a few 5k's.  The good thing though is that she and I still have about the same pace.  I'm looking forward to continuing our running even after the Monster Dash.  10k anyone?!  We've "trained" a few days.  It's going to be such a great feeling to complete the 5k on Sunday.

As for a costume for the MD, geez.  I didn't want to spend a lot since I'm currently on a budget.  After already spending the $23 on the race, I couldn't/didn't want to dish out much more on a costume I actually have to run in as well.  Gaga is super popular this year (although my friend KD started that trend last year), but there is no way I was dishing out $30+ on a costume that will probably be out next year.  Seriously...I spent at least 30 minutes (I honestly think it had to be close to 45) in the Halloween store and came out some some cat ears and tail that I'll still not happy with.  I just don't have the will to make something this year.  Looking at all the fun costumes though makes me me want to dress up this year.  More time for me to think up something super creative and awesome for next year :)

Happy Halloween!