Goin' Back to Cali

Thursday, December 18th:

The long-awaited day has arrived. I flew out of the Twin Cities area today with the temps in the low 20's. There was still fresh, fallen, and untouched snow on the ground from the night before. I was thinking about the snow and an icy runway at 2:30ish in the morning. I had just barely turned in my B.S. of a research paper and I was wracking my brain to figure out what to pack for that morning's flight. That's so bad. Procrastinating, that is. First, the paper and now, my gear. Dammit. I swear, it all started with that lil' Turkey Day break we were given. I started out fine in the class- I was on top of all my assignments, ahead in my readings, writing what I thought and believed to be "substantive" posts for participation points, and looking for a place to do my observation for my final paper. But the break came and messed up my groove, Firemarshall J came to visit, and by the end of the week, my motivation and discipline got somehow lost in the shuffle of things. It was just two more weeks...two more long, agonizingly, hectic weeks filled with major assignments that I was not mentally prepared for. Great. See, that is the one major reason why I back year-round schooling. Those two and a half to three months summer break is way too long! All the rules and discipline that they were so used to disappears from too much PS2 and YuGiOh. 'Course then, schools wonder why it takes so long for kids to get their flow going. It's 'cuz they have to relearn all the things they forgot, people! I'm all for it, forget summer vacation. Do the year-long thingy and have scheduled breaks in between. The results of clueless kids won't be as alarming this way and everyone will be a happy camper...But anyways, the break messed me up and I stupidly spent the last two weeks cramming my assignments and complaining about some business that just should've been taken care of earlier in the game. Procrastination is terrible and it never benefits anyone. Ever.

Whether or not I travel with hubby, I always get a window seat. As much as possible, I need to exhaust that feeling of claustrophobia. Being able to gaze outside during the flight gives me that sense of progression...progression towards my destination. Oh, and being the camera-happy chica that I am, I like to take pictures as we take-off. Typical MnM, eh? Well, after numerous bouts of turbulence, gliding across a densely white blanket of a country, and a dinky turkey sandwich and baby sized apple, I arrived safely into da City. My pops picked me up and by the time we got home, there was a home-cooked meal of chicken tinola waiting for us. Mmmmmm...'tis good to be home.

Honda...Nations...Guns...Oh My!

As my pops was parking, ya'll can imagine how excited I was to see my car! I was looking forward to about 10pm 'cuz I was supposed to pick up Firemarshall J from his flight in coming from da islands. That meant that I would actually have time to DRIVE! Funny story real quick: Firemarshall J was originally going to pick ME up...til his flight got all jacked, delayed, put off, whatnot. We were both flying into da City the same day with mine coming in first. SWITCH! Yah, Ms. Thang over here had to pick his butt up from the airport. In any case, I was planning on leaving early, hoping to get a coffee at Barnes before heading to the airport. I get into my car and guess what...nothing. Absolutely nothing! Nothing, as in, it didn't-wouldn't-and-couldn't-start nothing! I was SO disappointed, ya'll just don't know! Well, what can I do 'cept go pick homie up with my dad's car. Tres tres tres bummed! Then, when you think things can't get any worse, I realize that homie didn't even tell me which airline he was flying in on-geez! So here I am wandering and wondering where the hell I was supposed to find him. I ended up sitting someplace where this lady was breastfeeding her kid. I ain't hatin' or anything. It doesn't make me feel uncomfortable at all...it was just the way she took her boobies out. It was like she was flashing anyone and everyone who was there, all the while talking hella loud to her husband. What the...?! I heard Martin Lawrence in my head yellin' "Ta-dow! How you like me now?!" 'Course she then had to switch right to left and hello, who are you flashing lady? Doesn't subtlety exist anymore? She might as well announce to the whole airport that her milk juggers were coming out. Sheesh. Turns out that I was in the wrong section of the airport. Great. I finally find homie and we decide to go grab a bite to eat. We head to Nations for lack of knowing what else was open at that time. Nations. Yum, eh? Those are the messiest burgers and ya'll know what that means? The messier, the yummier. We grab a booth near the door, the place is packed, and a rowdy lil' group of high schoolers sit next to us. It's hard NOT to hear what they're saying, even though I was trying to be attentive to Firemarshall J's story of whatnot. So, just to make the evening even more interesting, I tell homie when we leave that the kids next to us were insisting that one dude show them his gun. His GUN. Hello?! What the hell are these high school kids doing with sh*t like that? Well, I hear that and I think, well sometimes kids like to be loud to be intimidating. It's all for show, right? But honestly, the way they were trying to whisper, all the "c'mon, let's see it!" to the "No way, I don't want to get caught here!" made me think that they weren't bluffing or trying to impress anyone. Something tells me that the kids to my right, the kids who were less than two feet from me, the kids who looked no older than sophomores or juniors, the kids who were out on a school night close to midnight, were concealing a deadly weapon. It made me very nervous, but I continued to eat my messy burger. And people wonder why I choose not to teach the older kids. Nah uh, no thanks.

Tomorrow's Agenda

I'm excited! I get to visit the old job, see and hang out with some co-worker friends of mine, and see my kids from last year. I honestly feel this bond with the now 4th grade class. Why? Simply because they were my last class at Cornerstone. Plus, I really had fun with this group and enjoyed being their teacher. Not that I didn't enjoy my other classes, but as young and as needy as last year's kids acted, they were MY kids. I miss 'em all…even the nose-pickin-booger-eating-kids! Hahaha, yah...every class has one! It should be a fun-filled day...plus, no one knows I'm coming! It's supposed to be a surprise....shhhhhhhh. ;-)