sign of the times.

I managed to hold my birthday a secret from my class until the very end of the day, when my kids came back from theater where A had subbed. He had somehow programmed them to preform this beautiful little monologue in chorus about how it was my birthday and that there was no way that A had told them about it. Suddenly the class was in a frenzy, how had they not known it was their teacher's birthday? The dreaded birthday serenade breaks out in a fairly unison key (it is an arts school after all!) and at the end of the "to you" one of my Jewish girl begs a version in Jewish and at least 6 kids pick up the call and sing to me the song they learned in Hebrew school. Hoping these will be the last notes I hear about my birthday for at least another year, the Spanish portion of my class breaks into "Cumpleaños Feliz." Granted, the song sucks, but its a little refreshing in the remix!

alone

I am not sure quite how it happened, but I have become an actualized conservative. Not a republican, or a member of the christian right, but a conservative. Initially this was simply a rethinking of my core belives that resulted in the realization of the title. Now however, I find the way I believe my life and my country to be in direct challenge to my profession. Minnesota is typically a liberal state and the teaching profession as well. So my day to day interactions are always slightly in favor of everything I do not believe in. No where has this come into such sharp contrast as in my graduate classes. I have been astounded by the uneducated statements that have been uttered as fact in my time there.

This Saturday was my last grad school class after meeting for two years with this small group of 20. Two years of papers, projects, and discussion. Now my final paper has yet to be finished, and I must persevere through the next two months to complete it, but regular classes are done. I also must admit that my frustration level at this point is a combination of many things, but I simply could not manage to make it to the congratulatory luncheon that all of my classmates were to attend after the final class. Given the overwhelming nature of my feelings, I could not bear to make silly small talk. I left. I left without even really saying goodbye to these people.
I am still not completely sure if it was the right decision, but I was done. Done with all of the mindlessness. For the first time in a while I am truly reconsidering my career - or at least my place in it.

ketchup

Its been a while since I have posted, I have been in what I like to describe as a mid-year slump. In reality it the insanity of the last year creeping up on me. I don't always feel proud if it, but I know I need breaks and rewards to maintain my sanity. Since this year has been more of a marathon than a series of short and well-rewarded sprints, my sanity has suffered a bit. I have so much to do, but here is a short run down of life as it is:

a. I have spent unhealthy amounts of time reading a blog by the name of Dooce. Her site was mentioned on another site I frequent (A's wife) and I became obsessed with reading the entire catalog of her site. I finally caught up today. I have made a promise not to find any more blogs to read.

b. I have not finished my wedding thank yous. I know. I am a horrible person. HOWEVER, I have all of the notes written and have completed and sent all of the notes to the people at Oak Haven, but there are a good 30ish that still need to be wrapped/sealed/addressed. I have yet to be able to find enough calmness to find the will to do them. So there. I suck.

c. I am pretty fat, and seem to have no motivation to alter my state - not what I eat or the amount of movement I participate in. However, S and I are actively planning our part honeymoon to somewhere warm over spring break. Warm= exposed skin. I know this - and yet I still want to eat that gelatto.

d. I love S. Soooo much. I cannot describe how happy I am to be married to this man. He is amazing. He is nuts - but amazing. He has recently changed the color of the trim in the bathroom from "Antique White" to "Ivory" and his relief is tangible. He also put a good sized hole in the bathroom wall and then framed it in perfectly to accommodate the mirror vanity we found together at Menards. Life is crazy but good. More to come.

salvation

I know, I know. . . how the mighty have fallen. But aside from S, this is the only thing keeping me sane. Or more accurately keeping me from sanity.

f.y.i.

Just in case you wanted to know, according to the Basant procreation plan, today was the second to last time I will refill my birth control pills - one month to go!

the grass is always greener.

Okay! So apparently I need some routine in my life! During the school year I am surrounded by structure, and it benefits me greatly - I need to have a reason to get out of bed on time and a roomful of unruly 4th graders certainly inspires me to haul ass in the a.m. However. . . . . . I get weary of having 20 minutes to eat and no time to pee. I am exhausted of doing the same damn thing over and over. I long for any opportunity to mix up my mundane life- anything out of the ordinary.

Enter the Holiday - all of the free time in the world - not a schedule in sight. However, left to my own devices I fall apart. For the last 4 days I have kind of made my own schedule as I am on Winter break and all of the major holiday/family stuff was completed in the first week. I slumped myself into a minor depression of comfy pants and overgrown eyebrows. T0 put it simply I have not found my hairbrush since I came back from up north - - LAST WEEKEND! sigh. So today I found the shower, a bra and my mascara and started working my way back to Work Girl. Monday, here I come!

wasabi new year

Apparently I am developing some of my father's sentimentalism. (You know you can't block it all out! ) Yesterday was New Years Eve which was the one year anniversary of the day S asked me to marry him. We went back to Fuji-ya to celebrate. Imagine my delight as we were ushered back into the same private room as last year. I was absolutely smitten, I commented to S that the room felt like a time travel chamber. (Partly my imagination at work, partly the fact that we have been watching too much Lost - Season 3) I simply could not condense all of the experiences and changes that had occurred throughout the year since I had last been in the room. I couldn't imagine what I would know a year from now.

(Potstickers, ginger calamari, miso, sushi sampler platter, two glasses of Choya plum wine, and a hot ass man! Yum!)