So I have been working in a non-elementary school environment for 3.5 weeks. I have worked in elementary schools for 6 years. I have never ever been asked out while at work at elementary school. I guess that's good, because the majority of adult males are dads. In the past 3.5 weeks, I have been asked out twice at work. It's so shocking to me! I mean, this never happens to me!
My stupidity in this case was writing down my full name! But once it was written, I didn't think that I could rip up the paper and rewrite just my first name. What would I do? Just look at him and say "Oops, don't want to give you my full name in case you are a freak posing as a nice guy?" It wouldn't be appropriate. Jaret teasingly asked if I also gave him my address. Yes, yes I did. And my SIN. And my credit card number. At least I didn't do that.
If this is how freaked out I get about giving out my phone number, imagine if I actually went on a date? I would likely implode due to the frenzy of nerves.
Too Many Questions
Stolen from Ms. M., who keeps her blog under lock and key, so no link!
1) In five words, explain what ended your last friendship? Unreasonable expectations and harsh judgement.
2) How was your prom night? I think it was fun. And alchohol free, so the only reason I don't remember alot is that it was a long time ago!
3) Do you have any famous relatives? My uncle used to be a country singer. He had albums and was on the radio. Now he's a pilot.
4) Have you taken out loans to pay for college? No, I was lucky enough to live and home and I'm smart with money.
5) What did you receive last in the mail? My water bill. How boring!
6) What beverages have you drank today? OJ and coffee. This arrive at work at 8:00 am requrires coffee!
7) Do you leave nasty messages on people’s answering machines? Never! That's so not me.
8 ) What’s the most painful surgical procedure you’ve had done? I'm lucky - I think the worst was wisdom teeth. Not so bad.
9) What is out your back door? An almost complete garage, patio, lawn and a half weeded flower bed ! And a brand new fence!
10) Do you usually go out on the weekends? I don't like this answer - not that much. When did this happen ? It needs to change !
11) Do you like what the ocean does to your hair? Not particularly, but it will never stop me from going into the ocean!
12) Have you ever visited a planetarium or do you even know what one is? I don't think I have.
13) What is your favorite flavor of pudding? Chocolate, it's my default flavour for everything!
14) Describe your keychain: It has a special name that I forget, the kind of clip for mountain climbing.
15) Where do you keep your change? In a small pouch in my wallet.
16) When was the last time you got up and spoke in front of a large crowd? This morning, about 40 people. If not, sometime in June, infront of the school, so 450 people.
17) What kind of winter coat do you have? Long, brown, down. I do need a new one this year though.
18) What was the weather like on your graduation day? I'm pretty sure that all of my grads (HS, University and University) have been really nice and sunny days. I do remember that University #1 was typically windy.
19) Do you sleep with the door to your bedroom open or closed? Closed. It would feel weird to leave it open.
20) Is there anything purple within 20 feet of you? A Royal Dalton doll.
21) What is the strangest thing you’ve put in the microwave? A fish! My pet! I was trying to get the water to the right temperature and it was a bad mix up of which container needed to go into the water. However, it lived. For a while.
22) Can you speak any Japanese? Sianara.
23) Do you look good in the color yellow? If it's very pale.
24) Do you spit or smoke? Eww.
25) What is your favorite color(s)? green
26) Ever played an instrument? Clarinet, organ, piano, flûte à bec. I'm not a super star.
27) Do you believe in Bigfoot, or Sasquatch? Not likely in our current world.
28) Ever been to a palm reader? NO! That would be a very bad idea for me. I would believe it and freak!
29) Did they tell you the truth about your future? Obviously I would have a tendency to think so.
30) What are you thinking about at this very moment? Going back to work.
31) Have you ever received a black eye? No.
32) What is your biggest current disappointment? The cost of repairs to my baby.
33) What are some of your favorite drinks? Currently, mojito and blueberry vodka.
34) Do you have anything that hurts on your body at this time? Not a thing!
35) Have you ever ridden in a taxi? Of course, I like it!
36) What is the last alcoholic drink you had? OJ and blueberry vodka. But that's not the same OJ I had this morning ;)
37) Did you do anything special last night? Made cookies that were rocks! Must remember all ingredients. Talked on the phone and planned up coming vacay.
38) What is your very favorite food? Hard to say. I like a lot of stuff. Minus the meat!
Haley-O, probably my favourite bloogerIdon'tknowinreallife, did a meme and basically challenged all her readers to do the same. And since I am Five Seven, and I'm on holidays, I should do it.
So, five things I like about myself.
1. I am motivated. Come on, just look at my last year, I have gotten &?$# done ! Jaret just said that I'm a machine.
2. I have a positive twist. Not always evident to the outside world, meaning friends and readers of this blog, but my internal dialogue is pretty positive. I am thankful for all the goodness in my life (easy), look for the good in all situations (so-so easy) and look forward to the future (sometimes hard ! Especially when I think of my birthday !)
3. I am hyper. I love the giddy happiness that I sometimes have inside of me. It all came back to me this spring and it was wonderful.
4. I am tall. Not gigantic, but tall. 5'7''. Just the right kind of tall. (Jaret laughs. He's 6'9'')
5. I am economical. Saving money is my talent.
That's boring. So here are two more. As stated by Jaret.
6. I'm good with children.
7. I make good cookies. I should, I've been working on it for 17 years.
Hi Jane ! Who is Jane ? She is my student. Well, my former student. She graduated from Grade 8 today ! And I gave her my blog address as a present ? No. She found out I had a blog (I said it aloud) and googled her way into my world. I'm not too stressed seeing as I live a pretty tame life. If I have moments that are not so tame, well, that's why I have the private entries where only the special people can read. But she has rules !
a) She reads, she comments. Jane, if you need an invite, you know my teacher e-mail address so no excuses !
b) What she reads on the internet is not to be shared. I'm not stupid. But don't tell your younger siblings.
c) If this causes me any problems, it is being shut down !
d) Don't read my archives. Just don't do it. I don't want to privacy block everything.
I'm pretty sure she will quit reading in 2.4 seconds because it's just not that exciting to read about your teacher's life !
*** Jane is not her real name. I think it would be unfair of me to write her real name.***
The story I am about to tell is why I blog. If I do a good job, it will be funny. Wish me luck, I will do my best.
I think I'm a quirky person. I make creative decisions that are sometimes just for the sake of creativity. This has nothing to do with my story. As happens with most people, random things happen to me. However, sometimes I feel like more random and quirky things happen to me, than they do to others. Let's begin.
My Miata is my baby. She is special and I love her. On Saturday my father asked me to go to the hardware store to pick up some supplied needed for the siding on my garage. So I did. Or I tried. I started out, it was a beautiful sunny summer day in my beautiful summer car. Coming out of the alley I allowed two ladies and a little boy to pass before I turned into the street. I drove a few block and then turned right. My car stopped. I restarted. It sounded very sick. Poor baby. Since I was close to home and my parents were there, I pulled over and walked home. It was about 6 or 7 blocks. I got a sunburn. I passed the two ladies and the little boy who looked at my strangely. A look of vague recognition. Yes ladies, you did see me in a car about 5 minutes previous. The walk, despite the sunburn, gave me time to think and relax. Time to visualize the entirety of my bank account draining through a funnel. Time to relax, I have a bike.
I arrived home sans nuts and bolts. My dad came with me to first go to the hardware store, then to have a look at my car. On the way there I forgot that we were going to the hardware store and got a little nuts myself when my dad didn't turn off to find my car. Then on the way back, my dad forgot about my car ! But we did get to it. He drove it a block closer to my house where it stopped. We pushed it into a nice parking spot. And left.
Hours later, when it wasn't quite as hot, we returned to the scene. We were preparing to tow the car. My mom and I were pushing it to make it easier. My dad decided that since it was easy enough, we would just push it. So there we were. The top down, my dad steering and pushing, me pushing from the end. My mom following in the van with the flashers on to protect us. My car is pretty light, as at some points we were running. We would shoulder check to make sure that we could get around parked cars. We looked insane! All was well for about 4 blocks. Then we came to an intersection with lights. At first my dad said to slow down, we were going to stop because we would never make it. Then he changed his mind ! So we made a break for it. Pushing the car across the intersection while cars waited to turn left and my mom followed in the van with the lights flashing. Because two people pushing a convertible through and intersection wasn't commotion enough. We made it across as the light turned yellow.
It was easy enough to push it another block home. I parked it in front of my house. A man drove up and asked if I had run out of gas. I wish I had, I only live a block away from the gas station and that would have been easy ! I said no, infact, I had bigger problems. Random stranger man says "Hang on, I'll be back in 2 minutes" What ? I wasn't counting on it so I put the hard top on my car for a false sense of security. But 2 minutes later he was back. I popped the hood, he took a look, made a comment about imports and started pulling things apart. He pulled off a spark plug wire and showed me the rust. When I couldn't provide sand paper, he pulled out a knife. And proceeded to scrape the rust off. The car still wouldn't start but he advised me to purchase some new spark plug wires.
I asked if he lived in the neighbourhood. No, he was doing some renos on a nearby house. He mentioned that he specialized in siding. What a coincidence ! We were having trouble figuring out the siding ! See he went to the back with my parents. pulled stuff out of packages, played with tools and showed them how to put up the soffits and facia. Wow ! And, he promised to come back Sunday morning to help out.
Sunday morning at 9:30 he showed up ! He gets out his nail gun and air compressor and spend an hour helping my dad. He says that people in the city just don't help each other out enough. My parents are planning to hire him to do some work on their house.
So parts for my car are ordered and the process of making my garage look finished is underway. I am a very lucky person. Here is why:
- Obviously, a random stranger offered a lot of help.
- My parents are saving my millions on my garage through their help.
- I have a bike and the ability to ride it long distances.
- My parents have a spare vehicle.
- The repair to my beloved car may be easy.
- If it's not, I have a job this summer.
Who am I ? I think that I have changed. I didn't used to be someone who owned three different regularly used eye shadows. Or had hair that cost more than her electricity bill. Or felt the NEED to get a pedicure. Or paid 100$ for workout wear.
When did I become this person ? I have often had the comment at work, and have had the comment for years, that I dress up. It's true. I wear lots of skirts and dresses in the summer. And clickety-clack heels that are somewhat impractical. But fun ! You know, for viewing the pedicure. I have made more of an effort than usual this year for a few reasons.
First, I wanted to feel better, prettier, more valuable. This is also the reason for the working out, the hair, the nails, the eye shadow, etc.
Second, it gets noticed. By the kids. I love the 'tu es très jolie aujourd'hui Madame!'. It's awesome. I'm serious when I say that they pay more attention to me when I'm 'pretty', And fits in with reason number one.
Here's what most people don't know. I still wear clothes I bought in 1999. Okay, only one pair of pants. But dresses are usually bought one a season, on sale and my collection does go back to 2001. But do I need to make excuses ?
I'm concerned that in my efforts to 'feel better', I have become superficial. Or maybe over the last decade I've become superficial. I don't want to be. So where is the balance ?
I had no intentions of going to work out yesterday, in fact I had cozy sweat pants on when the idea was proposed to me. So off to the University I went in the rain. But in a car, so really, what do I have to complain about ?
There was some quality tv so that encouraged me to stay on the machines for a while. When I was ready for stretching, I did so smack dab in the middle of the floor. Classy. But the only choice ! They are renovating and the normal stretching abs area no longer exists for the time being. I was near the entrance with this BIG guy with a black bandanna and a large beard enters. He doesn't have a card (for swiping, to prove that you are allowed to be there.) When this happens to me, I'm turned away. Hands down. Mercilessly. Well, once my smile got me in but after that they cracked down. He just said he was a Roughrider, the girl turned to her co-worker, he nodded and Mr. Roughrider was allowed to 'do his lift', as he claimed he must.
As he walked by me, I told him he was lucky. In a genuine way, not a snarky way. He acknowledged my existence with a subtle movement of his head. So I talked to a local celebrity ! Except that I don't know his name. I looked around, ie. I snapped out of oblivion, and realized that in the relatively empty gym, there were 4 possibile Roughriders. It was confirmed to me that they were indeed all Roughriders. So there you go. I worked out with the Roughriders. Maybe we can be friends. Maybe they'll give me tips for huge muscles ! Ha ! Imagine me with huge muscles. I think I need not worry that they will be hogging my weights :)
I realize it's been a while that I've neglected Happy Hour. So here's a random list:
- I'm working on my seventh translation of ten. This is easily the class that is both the most enjoyable and the most work this year. If we're counting how many classes I've taken (and we are !) this is number 4.
- It's official, I will soon be a grade 3 teacher ! Send me your young'uns ! And be afraid. I will be teaching them English in the first year that they are learning the language. You see all the mistakes in this blog. Please, pray for the future writers. I will also be getting a sparkly new classroom :) Easy access to
the parking lot, the library, other junior classes and the gym. - The Musical is finished ! And it was good !
- Dance Club is coming along.
- Jaret is still awesome. He ordered pizza so that when I arrived home at 9:00pm on Monday I had something to eat.
- I have no idea if my Crush is crushing on me or not. It's very up in the air.
- 2.5 weeks left of work ! I'm looking forward to the rest, but not so much the end. I really like my job.
- Somebody that is interested is coming to see my car. So lets pray that the last two weeks of work are sunny and I can bike. And that I sell my car.
- I have an interview tomorrow. Please, somebody, send me an email to remind me. I totally risk forgetting !
- That's it.
This is not at all related to the previous post. That is a different matter entirely.
I think that I love Jaret should almost be a weekly post. Because living with him is the epitome of awesome.
He thinks so too. He told his sister, on the phone, and in front of me, that he loves me ! As a friend.
Anyway, for this weeks installment of why he's the greatest. This morning I was getting ready to leave for work at an inhumane hour as I was riding my bike. Jaret goes to work at an inhumane hour anyway. I realized that today was Good Food Box Day and that I would have a few groceries to bring home. As he was working in the out of town in the direction of my school, he offered to stop by and pick up the groceries. I was running late and wasn't at school when he arrived. But he's a friendly giant and just asked the right people and got them anyway. How nice and helpful was that ?
I have connections. Who knew ? I have always considered myself as not very well connected. But I am !
I applied for a summer employment opportunity that I thought I didn't really have a chance at. It's a consulting position. I lack experience in this area. However, I got a call ! And the girl that called me is a former co-worker and friend. Not a former friend for any reason other than those of circumstance an geography. She wants to have an informal conversation about the possibilities. Cool ! Now of course this does not mean that I will be hired, however it's a step in the right direction.
*Fearless* This is indeed the job I want us to be hired on as a team. I will bring this up in the future informal conversation. Be ready. We're going to to be employed !
Wahoo !
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On a different note, this blast from the past accurately describes my feelings :)
