A little more detail

When I left my last job, I thought to myself, Well at least I can feel confident knowing that no job I end up with could possibly be as difficult as this was...

And then I went ahead and got the one job that might just be even more difficult.

I don't know a lot about how web searches work, but I'm hoping that if I link to this site and this site, you will be able to put two and two together (or one and one together?) and figure out the population I'm teaching and none of my students' parents will land themselves on this page to read about how scared shitless I am to teach their children.


I don't know what made them choose me, other than desparation, because like I said: SCHOOL STARTS IN A WEEK. They are a desirable district with hundreds of applicants for any given position. Apparently school jobs are hard to come by, if you haven't heard.

I do think this job will be more fun. I think the kids, even if more difficult in certain ways, will be sweet. I don't think they will disrespect me (on purpose) like my previous students did because they are young and (from what I've heard) their parents teach them better. The parents are involved in their children's education, know about their disability, and work at home to renforce what we do in school. Will they be a pain in the ass? I am certain of it. But at least they care.


Essentially, I will be teaching these kids how to communicate through speech and sign and, well, just about any other way I can. How cool is that? How scary is that?

It's Official!

Phew! I met with the superintendent today, and she spoke with me as if, duh, I already had the job. "Have you introduced yourself to your building principal?" Ummm... no... because I didn't want to walk into his office and say, "Hi! I'm Jess, and I just might be a new teacher in your school!"

But anyway. Relief. And a touch of I Think I'm Going To Shit My Pants.

School starts in a week (OMG!) so I will let you know how it's goes!

*****

Alex and I went on a dinner cruise last night. It was just okay... mostly older people with a mediocre buffet and a cheesey DJ. It was kind of like a bad wedding. But on a boat.

We spent most of the evening drinking on the deck. Perhaps the most exciting part of the night was when I was cold and Alex offered me his jacket. As we were sitting there I happened to feel something in the pocket... a small, square box. I thought, Could it be??? Is he going to propose to me tonight???

And I waited and waited, and kept looking around giving people the evil eye so they would go away, because surely he was just waiting for some privacy.

And then the ship docked and we left, and I had no ring on my finger. Maybe he just decided that it since it wasn't quite what we were expecting, he is going to save it for another time? Still, I HAVE to see that ring...!!!

So when we got home, I waited until he went to the bathroom, and I snuck a peek inside the box, and...




It was a 5-year pin from his workplace that he received at last year's holiday party.

Hrumph.

Chaos!

Okay, so it's been a two days since the elation of my previous post, and I'm past yesterday's nail-biting stressfullness, and if you are wondering why I'm posting at 6:30 in the morning it's because I'm about to go to Not Work.

Apparently there was a little mixup. Maybe? I dont know. Perhaps?

I was definitely offered a teaching job on Tuesday afternoon. Nothing about the conversation I had with the woman makes me doubt that it was an actual offer, and she said nice things about there being a lot of discussion about the candidates but that the overall feeling was that my heart and head were really in it and Would You Please Come to the Job Training Sessions on Thursday and Friday? You know. For this job we're offering you?

I alerted just about everyone I know to my good fortune, celebrated with a glass of wine, and slept easy for the first night all summer.

THEN: While shopping with my mom yesterday, I received a phone call from the superintendent's office of the same district, asking to set up A Second Interview!!! "I was under the impression I had the job," I stammered. To which the secretary snottily replied, "Well I'm sorry if you got that impression... only the superintendent can make that decision... We have an opening on Monday." "Uh... but I was asked to go to this training..." "Well a meeting with the superintendent is a little more important than whatever training you're supposed to go to!" "Okay, pencil me in at 10... so... should I still go to the training?" *Huge Sigh... I'll have to find out and get back to you."

So hours go by during which I become testy with my mom and some lady at Home Depot who lost my window measurements.

I'm finally called back, and am told that I need to understand that I should not have been told I already had the position, that the final decision comes down to the superintendent, and I am welcome to attend the trainings if I'd like, but that I will not know if I have the job until after Monday.

My mom and some of her teachery and administrativey friends believe this is all just a formality; why would they ask me to attend the training if I wasn't the only candidate being recommended to the superintendent? Apparently only the sup can legally offer a job and discuss salary, but it would be nice if someone would just tell me if this is all a formality, or if I am getting up at 6 to show I am a go-getter by attending a training for a job I may not have.

Also, as if this wasn't all enough to think about, a former coworker who now works for another district searched out my phone number through mutual contacts and called me at home last night in an attempt to poach me from my ex-district. Wasn't she pleased to find out I am actually looking for a position! She has been asked to recommend someone (apparently the candidates they have interviewed thus far are... concerning), and thought immediately of me; she'd love to work with me again; the class sounds really nice, as does the school, and will I come in for an interview?

Oh, and um, Alex's ex-almostgotmarried-highschoolsweetheart works somewhere in the district, possibly in that school, but he's not sure.

...!?!?!?!

And that's where I am right now. In summary: Two possibilities, no certainties, up too early, and SCHOOL STARTS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!!!! Also: Alex's ex-girlfriend.

osdjghsdfvbs;dfnsofnvf!!!!!!!!

I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!! I GOT A JOB!!!!

Details to follow! Too excited now!

Just a Couplea Things

Worst Idea Ever: Putting Maroon 5's Harder to Breathe on my Couch-to-5k mix. It does not inspire me to keep going, but rather, it makes me feel like I am drowning.

*****

Weirdest Thing of Late: I succombed to the advertising pressure and bought a PedEgg. I can honestly say that filing your feet is the strangest feeling, and the sound is even worse. And you know how on the commercial they show the girl open up the lid and there are all those foot shavings in there and she dumps them in the trash can and *gag*...? Um, yeah that actually happens. It's gross. But still... my feet look so much better.

*****

This Will Make You Want to Hurl: SOMEONE, we won't mention who, put old food in the bottom of an empty outdoor trashcan without a garbage bag. I thought only had some crumpled up grocery bags in it. On trash day, I turned it over so rain wouldn't get in it and walked away. Today, the dog was sniffing around and scratching at it, and so I lifted up the can, only to be faced with rotting hummus and cheese, both covered in maggots. GAG GAG GAAAAG!!!!!!!! Maggots are my gross-out thing, and there they were! In my back yard!! Someone is getting in big trouble when he gets home...

Recommended: Cold Onions

I happened to catch the show Food Detectives the other night. If you haven't seen it, you aren't missing much. I suppose it is interesting enough-- they address different food myths and tell you the science behind them. I just feel like they made an entire series out of something that could have fit into a one-hour special.

Example: In a recent episode they test the best way to recover from eating something that is too spicy. They try water, soda, beer, bread, and milk. I knew the answer before they even started, and so it didn't surprise me that they saved the milk for last. But that seems to be how every episode goes. Want to know the best way to chop an onion without tearing up? Check out the order of the theories they are going to "test," see which one comes last, and move on with your life.

That said...

I actually sat through the entire onion episode. They tried cutting the onion under water, and a couple other things I don't remember, but the last one... the last one my friends, was to make the onion cold first. They suggested that putting an onion into the fridge about 20 minutes before you need it will significantly cut down the onion chopping cry fest.

I didn't think about it again until tonight. I made a very impressive and healthy (no really, it is!) shepherd's pie. It calls for 2 onions, but I had just one whole onion in the cabinet, and a half-used onion in the fridge. I pulled out the refrigerated onion first and chopped it up without even thinking about it. Then, I took out the onion from the cabinet, and just seconds into chopping, my eyes were burning and tearing and I was wiping my face on my sleeve in an attempt to cut with my eyes open and not forfeit one of my fingers.

And then I remembered that episode of Food Detectives. A-ha! It really works!

I still don't know if I'd sit through an entire episode of the show again, but I would definitely check out all their tests, find out which one comes last... and then do that.

UPDATE: The shepherd's pie was just okay. I wasn't really a fan of the overwhelming thyme flavor. For next time, maybe some grill seasoning or seasoned salt instead? However, the mashed potato/cauliflower topping was delish. It was a nice way to lighten up the mashed potatoes without going full cauliflower mash. I ended up scraping it off the leftovers and saving only that. Heehee.

A Very Interesting Story About Gutters

Since we purchased this house over a year ago, we have come to find that each and every time we want to start a project, we are blocked or thrown off course by a previous owner's half-assed job. I know this tends to be typical when you buy a "fixer upper," but damn, we didn't really think we had much to fix up other than a fresh coat of paint everywhere and some new floors, and even those things have been halted by uneven ground and layer upon layer of wallpaper.

Yesterday I called someone to come clean out our gutters. He arrived today in a big unmarked truck-- an old guy in baggy jeans, a wife-beater, and a dirty, floppy white(ish) hat. The estimate was reasonable, and so I figured the strangeness of it all far outweighed the possibility of having to call another guy and schedule another estimate. Plus this guy could do the work today.

As he inspected the back of my house to make the estimate, he questioned me about a missing endcap and downspout, and which point I shrugged my shoulders and told him he could go ahead and fix that too, if it wasn't too expensive, and it wasn't.

When he was finished the work, he came around to report that the reason for the missing endcap is because when the woodstove (which we hate and want to get rid of because it is big and ugly and we are not Add-wood-Set-fire-Sweep-ashes type of people when we have a perfectly good heater that warms the house just fine, thank you) was installed, they built the chimney right on top of the gutters. When the water, which was supposed to flow to the right, had no where to go, they simply took the endcap off the left side and figured that would be fine, as long as the water had somewhere to go.

I'm pretty sure this is the cause of the cracked cement under where (heh heh... underwear) we usually have a nice waterfall when it rains.

And because I had nothing better to do, I took a picture, along with some others, for your viewing enjoyment:


Click me to see bigger!

Psycho organization of kitchen cabinets as procrastination for job search

Pissed off dog who does NOT want to be in this picture, thankyouverymuch!

A Smattering of Things

Hi All! It's been a couple weeks, but the update is pretty simple:

• Another interview
• Still no job
• 3 days down the shore with Mom and the dogs

I don't really want to elaborate on the first two. As for the last one, the time down the shore was okay, except that we've been working on cleaning out the house (it is my grandma's, but she doesn't live there anymore) and she is a pack rat and I have to say that it borders on a sickness. Like there is not much difference between her and the people you see on those crazy pack rat clean house shows, except that all of her mess is shoved into closets and drawers and corners because she likes the rest of the place to look perfect. You would not believe how small the apartment is, and yet how many bags of trash ended up on the curb. How did she fit it all in there?? I'm sure I don't know.

*****

My newest cooking project is poached eggs. This site in my blog feed reminded me of them, and at the time, my friend Alison was visiting for the weekend. We decided to make them the next day. Her method did not match SK's method, but they came out great, just the same. This morning I decided to make them on my own. I tried to do one with the whirlpool, and one without the whirlpool (which is how Al does them). I have to say, maybe my twister wasn't tight enough, but all the spinning water did was send the whites off in shreds around the pot. The whole thing eventually sort of came together, but I think one I just dropped into the almost-simmering pot turned out better. Next I will try the Julia Child method of dropping the still-shelled egg into the water for 10-20 seconds before breaking it into the water. I'll let you know.

*****

Another thing Alison and I did during her visit (what, you didn't think I held her hostage so she could cook for me, did you?) was see the new Batman movie at the IMAX theater. I have to say, the movie was great, I think, but I'm not entirely sure because I spent most of the time massaging the kink out of my neck and struggling to look around and figure out how what was happening on the left side of the screen related to was happening on the right. And behind me. It really was just too big. I don't know how the people in the back row fared-- it's possible that they were at an angle and distance that gave them a full enough view to be able to follow along and feel like they were in the movie, but we were somewhere in the middle. Ass-kicking scenes were especially hard to follow. The best part of the experience (and the reason I remember IMAX being cool) were the Flying-Over-Gotham scenes. A couple times it felt like I was about to fall off the edge of a building, only to glide across the street and through a skyscraper window. That part was pretty cool. I'd like to see it again in a regular theater... or even just in my own living room.

*****

I finally completed Week 1 of Couch-to-5k. It took me two weeks because the first week I did it left me pretty much feeling like I was either going to collapse into a cramped up ball or pass out from hyperventilation. There were only 8 one-minute running intervals during of 25 minutes of movement, but I could only do three of them the first time I went out. The second time I went I did 6, and I was finally able to do all 8 the third time I went. I decided to do a second week because I didn't feel like I was ready to move on.

Last night I made a new playlist on audacity for Week 2 with chimes at the new intervals. I definitely should have listened through it first. The first song sounded okay, but I forgot to adjust the volume of the chime, so I almost missed the first one. Then the second song came on and I don't know how it happened, but it was playing super super fast and so it sounded like I was listening to the Chipmunks. I thought I'd be able to keep going and not let it bother me, but just, No. I ended up walking the whole thing instead, and I was a little frustrated to realize that I got home at approximately the same time I would have if I ran. I suppose once I gain the endurance to actually keep running for distances, I can work on speed.

*****

It poured yesterday from start to finish, and Alex and I decided to celebrate the drink for our much dehydrated lawn by watching movies. All day. Four of them. In a row.

We started with Dan in Real Life. Then 27 Dresses. Then Strange Wilderness. Then Mr. Woodcock. Alex actually likes romantic comedies, especially anything with Hugh Grant really only likes movies with guns and/or fart jokes, but he watches romantic comedies for my sake, because I'm a girl. It was totally his my idea to watch the romantic comedies first, to get them out of the way, of course, and then move on to the stupid ones. For the record, Strange Wilderness was just as awful as you'd expect.