Updates in Real Life

I am on Spring Break! Huzzah! I am quite relieved, because for the week prior I was kind of losing my mind. I had four midterms for my five classes, and they flattened me a little bit. I don't know how I did on them all yet, so cross your fingers for me! I will say that taking Child Development as a major means my midterms are quite a bit easier, and less stressful, than when I was doing nursing pre-reqs. Microbiology was not my friend.

(Though I still have not re-started biting my nails since I took that class. Nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia about microorganisms and a year-long tummy-ache to let your nails grow like they are supposed to!)

So school is officially half-way through. It has gone by quickly, but I'm a bit anxious about the next half, because I have a LOT of projects that will be worked on and turned in by the end. (Papers. So many research papers. Holy cow. Apparently in Universities they actually expect you to WORK! Who knew?)

I'm sitting on our freebie couch, listening and watching Nick play Minecraft (square legomen! Aaagh!) (He says there is actually programming in it. Plus, he can blow things up with TNT, so WIN) and we just got back from dinner at Mikuni's sushi with his parents. It was absolutely delicious!

I'm still working on losing weight, and will post more on that later, but don't want to jinx myself. So shhhhhh!

It's raining here, and snowing where our parents live. Dad is back from Italy, he came home last Sunday, and mom comes home tomorrow! I very much look forward to seeing them both together and hearing all about Italy, (and getting my SOUVENIRS, yippee!) and Nick and I plan to go up Tuesday night to see them. Troy is traveling to Munich right now, as I type, on an overnight train. He is also on spring break, and I expect him to have lots and lots of fun! (Safe fun, Troy.)

Mmm, what else?

Working at the private school is going really well. I like teaching, and just found some free tutorials to help me out with Dreamweaver and programming at my university that I hope to take. Pretty awesome! I like the freebies that Universities give you. (Since you're paying a ton of money anyways.)

Nick has some pretty exciting news about the direction that he wants to take his career, but I won't post that until at least Tuesday night, because I am keeping it a secret from my parents. (Hint: it involves engineering.) (Teeheeheee!)

I really, really want a Starbucks. Something hot--like a peppermint white mocha, a caramel macchiato, a latte. Something warm! (My toes are cold. I think from therein springs my hot drink craving. If Nick were closer I would put my toes on his stomach to warm them up.)

And we ordered curtains! Red pretty curtains from JCPenney's, ordered like two weeks ago, supposed to come in 4-7 days, and reportedly shipped just a few days ago. FAIL, Penney's. Whenever they arrive, though, I am looking forward to seeing how they look! I also really would like to get some plants for our little patio and for inside, so I will kidnap mom and go shopping with her soon. ^_^

Biggest news of all: I TOTALLY BOUGHT THREE PAIRS OF SHOES FOR THIRTY DOLLARS, YAY!

First Day of School

Short version, for I am tired and likely to misspell thingz:

Monday! Today! Four classes!

Biked three miles this morning getting to and from class, had a quick lunch!

Walked back, had class, walked home! Miles walked? Three!

Had snack. (Sliced tomatoes sprinkled with herbs and eaten with day-old sourdough baguette. Mmm.)

Nick drove me to my last class (three hours long!) and then picked me up.

Teachers so far: One Taiwanese, One Filipino, (both with English as a second language), and one Caucasian. All female.

I made lemon chicken with onion, red and green peppers, and Nick made sushi rice.

Then I ate TWO pumpkin cookies with icing that Vicky and I made yesterday! (TWO! Cookies are bad for being healthy!)

At some point tonight I have to do Day 4 of the 30 Day Shred.

Wish me luck!

Psssst . . .

Pssst! Come here--but shh! Don't let me hear you! You never know what your body will do when it realizes you're happy with your weight loss to date.

Because I am still 153! I was all prepared for disappointment of going back up in case my weight was just fluctuating, and it didn't! Still 153!

I'm celebrating with the same breakfast I've had for like, five days--yogurt with low-fat granola. Good thing I love yogurt!

This is totally a nonsense post. Ode to well.

PS I START SCHOOL TODAY HALP!

PPS I HAVE TO BIKE TO GET THERE HALP HALP!

PPPS NICK IS PICKING ME UP AFTER MY LAST CLASS BECAUSE I AM SO NOT BIKING OR WALKING HOME IN THE DARK, HECK NO.

PPPPS I lurve my boyfriend. ^_^

Finished, Done, Kaput.

I'm all done with my courses at my community college, and ready to move on to the school I will get my BA and teaching certification from!

All done with microbiology and chemistry after a year of procrastinating. WHEEEEEEE!!!

How to Procrastinate your Micro Test for a WHOLE YEAR

Step 1: Take a ton of classes and promptly get too stressed to finish them. 

Step 2: Beg your teachers for Incompletes. 

Step 3: Rejoice! You have a whole year to wait before finishing your classes!

Step 4: Forget everything you ever learned.

Step 5: Think you really should get on those classes. 

Step 6: Realize that the amount of studying you need to do is frightening and decide to read instead. 

Step 7: Play, Frolic, Laugh, and ignore your impending deadline. 

Step 8: Change majors, decide you really don't want to finish your classes, especially since finishing them involves two microbiology finals and one chemistry final. 

Step 9: Weep, for the academic counselors say they must be finished or you will get an "F". 

Step 10: Wait until you have 2 weeks left, study your ass off, and take your finals, and feel satisfaction in that you totally postponed these tests a whole year past what the other students did!

Whoops

I haven't updated in so long that my computer forgot to remember my password for me, so I had to wrack my brains so I could post some gibberish. You're welcome. 

Gibberish Point the First: I am having a hellish few days and it's all my fault. If you remember, last year I took microbiology and chemistry (and some more stuff) and got so stressed that I got IBS and it took me a year to feel better. I got Incompletes in my classes which meant I could take a year to finish my classes--and to finish them I need to take three finals. Which I procrastinated on for nearly a year. I have eleven days to take them and finish my education class and still work during which I am taking over teaching computers. I was busy for twelve hours straight today. 

Gibberish Point the Second: dude, THANKSGIVING HAPPENED! I spent it with Nick and his family at their cabin in the snow! It was awesome! We ate a lot and played games and drank mai tais and discovered we don't like Bloody Mary's and totally didn't shop on Black Friday. 

Gibberish Point the Third: I am super serious about this working out and losing weight thing. So super serious that I totally worked out for 45 minutes and then made cookies. BOO-YEAH! 

Gibberish Point the Fourth: We finished watching all the available seasons of Psych and really want the next season to come out on netflix so we can stare mindlessly at the TV some more!

Gibberish Point the Fifth: My Nanny is moving here from Florida! She gets here soon. We're very happy she is going to be living near us!

Okay. I'm gonna go zone out in front of X-Files (my boyfriend is a geek) for the rest of the night so I can study my butt off tomorrow for my lab exam and portfolio tomorrow. Ugh. 

Celebrity Chat

No, I didn't talk to a real celebrity. But last night, after sitting through a school board meeting, I met and chatted for about a half an hour with the Assistant Dean of my college, and an Assistant Superintendent of the school district. By the time we were done I felt as though I'd been chatting with a celebrity. 

You can call me weird. It's okay. 

They were so nice! They answered some questions and asked us (my friend from college class was there) about our class and the elementary school, and what we want to do, and they gave us their cards and said to call them anytime, they need great teachers. 

Whee!

Kindergarten

Kindergarten is where I will be for the next six weeks, since I finished up the first six weeks in special ed. I am loving this college class for the field experience we wannabe teachers are getting. The lectures are interesting, even if it is the same type of learning experience every day; we get into groups, read a section of the chapter (that we are supposed to have already read) and then write up a poster and present it; I suppose it's best for us to get experience in front of the classroom, and I certainly can relay that public speaking is no longer the stuff of nightmares. 

So far in this kindergarten class I have worked one-on-one with students who are struggling to recognize their ABC's and the related phonetics. It is a lot of repetition; you say the letter, the sound, and then the picture that relates to the letter; a lot of "A-ah-apple, B-buh-bear, C-cuh-cat," etc. Then we write down the letters on a whiteboard and have the child recognize it and (hopefully) say the sound. Today we also worked on writing and recognizing numbers 1-10. I was so proud of M, who went from knowing and writing 1, 2, and 4, to 1-6! 

We also work in groups of about six students to one teacher's aide. For example, the student may need to write "I like (fill in blank [usually T-Rex or guinea pigs, who knew?]) and then color a picture about it. We circle around and help them sound out their words, and encourage them. Afterwards we do a "Must-Do", which in my day were called worksheets. I was emphatically told by several 5-year-olds that "worksheets" don't exist. We worked on the letter U, copying Uppercase and lowercase over and over. 

It's very fun, and very repetitive. The kids are so sweet (for the most part. C makes me rip out my hair with his ADHD-like behavior) and I love the colorful fun environment. I still don't know if I want to teach kindergarten or a higher grade, but from what I've experienced so far, I think I'd like it either way. 

Experiences in Teaching

This semester has been all about me figuring out what I want to do. I am (strongly) leaning towards teaching elementary school, because I love kids and enjoy bossing them around. (I kid! Though it is very satisfying saying "five-minute time-out!")

I'm doing two things to figure out if teaching is a good fit: First, I am taking a field experience class where I am put in a classroom at an elementary school for 12 weeks; and second, I am working at a private school's after-school childcare program. 

The field experience class is, in a word, AWESOME. One hour of lecture and then we head to our assigned classrooms, which for four of us at the moment is special education. After six weeks in the first classroom we change over to another class, which for me is kindergarten. 

Special education is amazing. There are anywhere from 4-8 kids in the class at any given time, because the school mainstreams them as much as possible, so if Billy is really good at reading he goes to a regular class for their reading time and then comes back. They have speech therapy (I got to go see a session twice!) and some other classes as well for the kids. It ranges from K-3rd grades, and all the kids are very smart this year according to the teachers. 

I loved that we got to work one-on-one with the students. They had lessons planned, so we would review their sight-words and then do some pages from a practice book and then read . . . and bribe and/or coerce them as necessary. Some days they were better at concentrating, some days they were super hyper, some days they were just not into learning. Every day was an exercise in patience. 

Being in a teaching position like that was very humbling. There are lots of little tricks to getting the kids to understand what you're talking about, and tricks on how to focus--even getting to know each child's strengths and weaknesses helped you understand the best way to work with them. Learning these tricks took time, and an understanding that there was always some better way to help the kids learn. 

Last Thursday was the last day we were in special ed. When we walked in (myself and three other girls), the class was sitting in a circle. We were invited to join.  The kids said thank you to us and why they were glad we were there. They had practiced before we came. 

One little boy said he was glad we came because "it helps because class is quiet and I can work." 

A girl said, "You are my friends and I'll miss you," which of course made my eyes get all hot and wet. 

A boy acted really shy and cute and finally mumbled, "You're all pretty." 

I am going to miss them so much! Kindergarten should be really fun though, so that's something to look forward to. The private school I am working at is great! It has kindergarten through 8th grade, and every day I work somewhere different. The kids and parents are so nice and it is great experience. 

So far all signs point to yes, I do want to be a teacher. 

Growing Up is Hard to Do

Yesterday I was sucker punched with the realization that holy cow, my baby brother is a whole grown up. Even if I knew in my head that he's eighteen, and in college, and working--it hit me in the gut when I was watching him drumming up on stage at the concert at his college that my tall blond brother is an adult. BAM.

Ow.

Unemployed College Student Seeks Winning Lottery Ticket

After being unceremoniously laid off a few months back I began collecting unemployment (your tax dollars hard at work!) until the EDD got wind (okay, I told them) that I had started school, so now my income is on hold until an interview occurs (it happens this Monday.)

Damn EDD. They're giving me like 80 bucks a week and they need to be sure I'm not cheating them. Considering that they give up to 800 bucks to some people it seems like they could concentrate on them and not me, right?

Now Nick and I are living in Sacramento, our bank accounts dwindling away as we spend money on rent, utilities, and food necessities, and I am coming to the realization for the first time in my life that if I run out of money it won't be okay. 

My nest egg from working part-time at the veterinary clinic was a happy size until I got laid off and started spending money on living expenses. It's still pretty happy, and I could get along for . . .  (runs off in search of a calculator . . . can't find calculator so sits still and stares very hard at wall while running numbers in head . . . ) . . . eight months or so without an income. And since Nick is paying half of everything I could really get along for more than a year. But then we would have nothing. 

Which is why I dragged myself off the couch and away from twitter and addicting blogs this morning and went out in search of a job. A few hours later and I'm back on the couch, but with a few resumes in circulation and a few applications filled. A lot of places are hiring for seasonal retail work (I kind of want to work at Sephora. They all had bright red lipstick on. I want to be part of the red lipstick club!) and the manager said she'd start interviewing soon for seasonal and that she usually keeps most of them after the season ends as well, so I'm crossing my fingers that A) I get a job and B) I don't have to wake up at 4am for a job and C) I like my job. Oh, and D) It pays money. 

But when I was tramping through the mall trying valiantly to ignore the sweaty stains under my armpits, I realized this would all be made so much easier if I won the lottery. So that's my plan. Win a million bucks. 

. . . do you think I need to get off the couch to buy a lottery ticket or can I phone it in? 

Time to Bust Out Those Erasers and Alarm Clocks

It's that time again! Pencils are being sharpened, filled with .5 lead, schoolbags are being organized, books are being bought ($250 so far oh god), work hours are being cut back (we hired a girl from South Africa today to work my Monday and Wednesdays), and I'm treasuring every moment of laziness I can get, because school starts tomorrow.

This will be my sixth semester of college. (Yikes!)

Every time I start a semester I get excited because it's a new chance to do AWESOME. Of course, a few weeks in I lose my enthusiasm and classes get boring, and they aren't as awesome. But right now, the potential to do awesome? is awesome.

Here's to a semester that I don't get stressed in. Instead, I want to do well, feel well, and get great grades.

Cheers!

College Confessions: "Finals? What Finals?"

I'll bet you read that title and now think "Oh, Katie didn't study so she's pretending she forgot finals." 

Nope. I'm not taking them. 

You see, I am a special delicate flower and petitioned for an Incomplete in both microbiology and chemistry, so I now have a year left to finish both of those classes. An Incomplete basically means that I keep all of the grades that I have right now, and all of the work, but have another year to catch up and take any remaining tests (my chem final, micro lab exam 2, and micro final). Incompletes are granted to students that are unable to continue or keep up their grades in a class due to circumstances beyond their control. 

I did this because I simply do not think that I can finish these courses in the time remaining (school ends December 17th) and maintain B's in both, due to my gastrointestinal issues. (IBS/Gastritis/Heartburn/Acid Reflux/whathaveyou, plus the anxiety that I get that makes my stomach/IBS issues worse when I get stressed). This was not a decision made lightly; when my microbiology teacher told me about an option for Incomplete a few weeks ago I thanked her and said that knowing that would probably alleviate my stress levels, but that I thought I could handle it. 

. . . and I couldn't, not really, not and get the grades I want (need). I feel kind of happy about this decision, because ohmigod the stress isn't so bad; but then I feel bad about it, because I never ever have failed a class or not finished a test and what will people think and will this even make a difference to my grades, and that just leads to its own anxiety. But not too bad. (I hope). My stomach is actually acting up a little bit today, when it has been pretty good for about a week now, on and off. 

So I'm curled up in a chair, listening to the rain outside as I sip my peppermint tea (it's an anti-spastic!) and watch the Christmas tree lights twinkle while I wonder at what exactly has happened to the single-minded, driven, completely healthy girl I used to be. 

Belated Post: High School Graduation!

I am a proud 2007 Colfax graduate! (Nick is, too). (Oh, okay, so were about 270 others). On June 2, 2007 (our theme for senior year was James Bond, 007) we stood outside in the boiling hot sun, wearing our fashionable green tents, and received our diplomas.

But first! Here is a picture of all of us in Culture Club, and the mural that we worked on all year instead of doing Spanish IV Honors work. (We still got the credit, but instead of doing work we froze our butts off outside and painted. It was AWESOME). In order from left to right, we have Ben, Drew, Andra, Kristin, Me, and Keelia.

The mural is of a sun shining on the earth, and the rays are made up of most of the flags of the world. Yes, they are accurate, and yes, they were very detailed, and yes, they took a long time. And they are oh-so-pretty.

One of my favorites that I drew was of a very detailed dragon. Man, that took forever!

Earth, flags, signatures of all of us who painted.

Here is the field of Colfax High School, Home of the Falcons.


I was also in Treble and Concert Choir, and we all sang a song about friendship from the musical Wicked for our graduation song. Mr. Wilkinson was the teacher of choir, he did a fantastic job, even if he was grumpy sometimes. I think I'm on the left.

Yep, I'm on the left.

Then we sang another song! I don't know what it was.

Finally, time to graduate! Somebody, Me, and Tyler (acquaintance), getting ready to walk up front.

Shaking hands with Mr. Spears, our principal, as he handed me my diploma.

Troy, Jason (from TaeKwonDo), Me, and Eddie, my boyfriend of nearly 2 1/2 years. They were all sweet enough to brave the heat and come out to cheer for me.

Mom and I!

Mi familia.

So that was my graduation. It was hot, it was crowded, and it was great. Two years later I'm at my community college, and I have gone from a veterinarian career to a maybe deciding to be a labor-and-delivery nurse. Most of my friends are off at UCDavis or Santa Barbara, Irvine, Berkeley, or off living in Idaho, only a few stayed here. We still all get together during breaks though, and I luckily get to see Nick a lot! ^_^

People say high school will be the best four years of your life. I think it was four really good years, but these last two have been pretty great too! I'm looking forward to more great ones.

Disaster Averted

You know those days where you just barely miss a catastrophe? This may not seem that bad to some, but for those trying to get into impacted classes . . . I just barely figured out in time that I had signed up for my next fall's Chemistry and Microbiology classes on different days than I meant to!

I signed onto the college website with my heart in my throat, to see that I chose a Tuesday/Thursday class for microbiology and not a Monday/Wednesday, which would have left me SIX hours of doing nothing in between lecture and lab . . .which would have sucked, to say the least.

I quickly dropped one class and added another (this time correct) one, but I had to make my schedule a Tuesday/Thursday instead of Monday/Wednesday. I will be in school from 11am to 9pm next semester, plus an online class. At least, however, I do not have to try to add chemistry on the first day of classes-I probably wouldn't get in, it's so impacted! To add some spice to this lovely situation, www.ratemyprofessors.com says that my new Chemistry teacher is practically bipolar and likes to make people cry. I am hoping that this is not the case, as Chemistry is not my strong point. Aack. If anyone would like to chime in with stories of how they survived sucky teachers, now would be the time! ^_^

FOUR DAYS OF SCHOOL LEFT!!!

Scary: Part 2

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?! My little community college had a BOMB threat! They evacuated the night classes! Whatever happened to my teeny little town?

Edited to Add: There is a kitten biting my toe. He has very sharp teeth.  

Carry on. 

Stabbing

In the middle of my last class of the day today I heard sirens. After class I was walking over to the science building to study for Anatomy and I some guy stops me and says "Have you heard what's happened?"
I look at him oddly. "No, what happened?"
"Some guy was stabbed!"
I could hardly believe it until I saw it. In front of the science building the area was cordoned off with police tape and there were about five cop cars, numerous men in uniform, a news crew with a camera interviewing a somber man in a suit, and blood spilled on the concrete.
Rumor has it that there were two men fighting over a girl, and one of them stabbed the other twice. The victim's intestines were falling out, and he fell onto the ground. The stabber was so upset or in shock at what he had done that he sat down next to the man, supposedly his friend, and waited there until the ambulance and the cops came, and he was arrested.
A witness to the stabbing ran to get a known former surgeon at the school, who was luckily only a few rooms away--my Anatomy professor! He's brilliant and a great teacher.
Last heard, the victim was in surgery. Think good thoughts his way!

So scary this happened at MY college! Our little quiet community college!

My Brain Has Fallen Out And Is On The Floor Being Eaten By Sage Right Now

Want to know something REALLY FRUSTRATING?!

Spending hours, since last night up to this morning, working on your online class test, only to hit submit when it's all done, and have it have a fucking ERROR AND LOSING ALL OF YOUR WORK!!!

*really bad words, stomping of feet, calling Nick to whine*

Luckily I reread the entire thing, including the EIGHT ESSAY QUESTIONS, so it did not take me very long to redo it. Maybe an hour.

Thank the chocolate gods that I type really fucking fast.