Wednesday, August 20, 2008

SO Tired and So Sad

Any veteran teacher would laugh at me.

I am so tired. I have been working 5 days. Last Thursday and Friday for New Teacher Orientation and then Monday-Wednesday so far. I do fine during the day but as soon as I get home I am dead. I start my day by waking up at 6:15 but next week that will change to 6:00. I get ready and leave the house by 7:00 and that will change to 6:45ish. I am fine at school all day working and everything. Next week may be different though actually having little children to watch and teach. I have been leaving between 3:45 and 6:00. I usually get home turn on the tv and eat a bowl of Ramen. As soon as I am done I get extremely tired. I tell myself I will just go watch a movie in the bedroom and rest but BAM! I wake up three hours later usually around 9:00. Clayton gets home around 12 and we sit and talk and watch tv for a while and I usually get to sleep around 2:30.

I know this schedule cannot work forever but for now its all I can do.

Cl8n is off tomorrow and I am so excited but he was supposed to work Friday day instead of night and then a guy called and asked him to switch. He could have said no but he said he would rather help someone than piss them off. It just means another day that we will not see each other. His schedule will most likely fall where he works Wed, Fri and Sat. and that sucks because the only day we both have is Sunday. We have already agreed that the first half of this first year of our marriage is going to be brutal.

I have been working on my room a lot but I am almost out of ideas. There is still a lot of wall space to be filled and bulletin boards to be decorated. There are supplies to be bought and things to be put in order. Its all so overwhelming. So that's what's been going on this week.

This past weekend was pretty rough. Cade left for the Marines. Friday we went home for his going away party. It was pretty fun but I was very tired because of work. After the party was an after party for all the close friends and everyone was just staying at Cl8n's mom's so they could spend the last few hours together. Well it was fun but drama, drama, drama. Cade and Hillary fought all night and bad. I was worried they were gonna break up 2 days before he left. One of Cade's friends stepped on my foot and broke my toe. It bled and was bad. It hurt so much. I have broken all my toes in one foot before at the same time and I don't remember it hurting like this. They stupid boys were having a food fight and stole my blanket around 6 am just when I was trying to go to bed. I had been up over 24 hours and was a little cranky. Finally I went to bed and woke up around 12 with a hang over to kill an elephant. All day I was feeling bad and after we went to eat with my parents for my mom's birthday me and clayton watched a little of the Cowboys game and went to bed early. Sunday was much better. We went to eat early with my parents then since it was tax free weekend me and my mom went shopping for a few minutes. Then we went to see my great grandmother at her nursing home. We do it every Sunday that I am there.

Then came the hard part. It was time to go to lunch with Cade before he had to leave. Lunch was good it was at Outback because his two best guys friends work there and they wanted to wait on us. When lunch was over we all went back to Dawn's. This included me, Cl8n, Cade, Morgan, Roy (cl8n's dad), Sandra (Cl8n's step-mom), Hillary, and Lexi. Then his two waiter friends got off and came over. A few more people trickled in and we had about an hour with him before his Staff Sgt. came to take him away. It wasn't so bad until it was past time for him to be there. Then I got ancy. I wanted pictures of Cade and Cl8n so asked them to go outside. Everyone followed so we were all outside talking and taking pictures. Then the dreaded fan drove up. I thought they would let us say bye and then take him. Instead the Sgt came out and asked us all to gather around and listen. He told us all about what Cade was going to be doing and what we could and couldn't do. When we would write and when he would write. I started getting a little upset and so was his dad, mom and Sandra. Then it came time to say good bye. He hugged me and I started to cry harder. It was so sad. I said bye and he said not to cry he would come stay with me and Cl8n when he got back. It made me happy how long he spent saying good bye to each person. It wasn't hurried. The worst part was when he had to say good bye to Hillary. It was such a private moment and no one should have been able to watch it. I hurt for Hillary. I still do she is in such a sad position.

So you'd think he got in the car and left and that was the end..well it wasn't. The next morning he was to be processed in Dallas and sworn in. Well the family minus us(because of work) went to watch. Well it turned out he was 1/2 a pound over weight. This doesn't mean he cannot go, of course not but he had to have a waiver filled out and since there were so many people he did not get processed fast enough so he was delayed until the next day. So he got to go home and see everyone again for another day and then do the whole goodbye one more time and leave yesterday. Last night Dawn called me to play his message he left. They get to call to let the family know they have arrived. They have to read off a script. It sounded so weird and he messed up a few times. He sounded very nervous. In the background you could hear people yelling at the recruits. It made me cry again. Today I started a count down till we see him at his graduation. 86 days. But the whole reason I was so upset and the same with Cl8n, was because the is the first of many good byes and definitely not the hardest, someday we will be saying good bye as he leaves for Iraq. Every thing has changed and it will never be the same. Thats why I am so sad.

Well onward to another day at work.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

First Day of Being a Real Adult

Today was the first day of becoming a real adult. I know its weird that I do not consider being married being an adult or even graduating from College, nope for me its having a real full time job where I am considered the expert and the adult in the room.

Today did not so much feel as I was the adult in the room though because even thought today was new teacher orientation I would say the average age was close to 35. And just to show how naive I am that was very shocking. It makes sense that many teachers would transfer into the district and out all the time but I would think it feels very condescending to be lumped with the first year teachers in this orientation. It was very lame and such a waste of time. Even A&M has fish camp (for freshman) and T-camp (for transfer students) because it would be ridiculous to sit through a entire session or sessions on our first time in college or first time teaching for that matter.

It seems my district would be better served by taking those somewhat experienced teachers and having a day or two for them that just got them acquainted with the district policies and procedures instead of walking them through everything like classroom management and first day jitters.

As you can probably tell it seemed very time wasting. The only thing I know was helpful was that I got my key to my classroom, finally! So a quick break down of the schedule so I don't seem so whiney and you can see what it was like.
We had to be there at 7:30 but that was just for breakfast. Thanks to the district for getting us free food but I would rather have slept a little extra sense I couldn't fall asleep till after 2:30.
Finally at 8 we had break out sessions with our campuses. My class was up stairs and once we got in there it was apparent there was poor planning and there were like 30 too many people for that room. So we moved rooms after like 15 minutes and started late. They laughed it off as something to learn from because it would indefinitely had to us the first day. But I did not think it was funny because if they cannot get it done right what are we learning from them for. That session lasted till 10:15 and was a showcase of the outdated visuals and music selections of the district. It was very corny and very 90s. Not to mention we rewatched the Harry Wong videos we had watched in full this summer at A&M. All in all seemed very unuseful and unorganized or more unpracticed.
Then, this is the part that irks me the most, we went to the auditorium for an hour long of welcomes from the head administrators. It was nothing more than boring words from a bunch of people. I guess it is important to meet the superintendent and all but still it was no useful information and they said over and over again is "Welcome to the District" over and over and over. It was very silly.
The we had an hour lunch which was provided and nice. Nothing ill to say about that.
The we went to our break out sessions for our content areas. This was exciting because all of us from the A&M program had a class together this summer and it was like a great reunion. This class was going good at first because it was a lot of information we really wanteed, like days we had professional development and so forth. It got bad when they had us do a scavenger hunt on the district server. It just felt very childish and that they could not count that we could just remember what they said. It took too long and was too involved. The to make matter worse they preceded to make us participate as students in a Geography Live! lesson. It was a cool lesson but they assumed we all knew the information instead of providing the information like we would to students. I am not good at geog so I was pissed. Again it took too long and made us restless. Then we were given info on organizations to join and that was nice then we got door prizes. Yay!
Finally when we got to leave I hod to haul across town to sign my contract. It was a mess because it took almost an hour and I had to fight with them to take my new last name rather than my maiden name.
Once I got home 2 hours after I got done with school I immediately fell asleep until the Olympics started and it might have been a mistake since I need to get up early again tomorrow but at the same time I want to see Cl8n tonight when he gets home from work.
This is going to be a very crazy weekend because tomorrow is Cade's going away party fr the Marines. I am sad but also proud. I have to make some food for the party tonight and get all packed up for the long weekend at home. Well I will be back soon!

Love you always Cl8n
Krister

Friday, August 8, 2008

I'll have to wait until Monday

I got an email yesterday from my principal telling me to come get my keys at anytime. I was so excited I was gonna go this morning around 10 or 11 with Cl8n and all my stuff for my classroom but I slept in and once I was ready to go it was lunch time so I waited till 12:45 so that I could get there right at 1. Well I got there and then a lady helped me, took my to an AP and she said both the ladies I needed were in a meeting from 1-4 so I could wait till 4 (3 hours) in the waiting area or I could just come back Monday. I wonder if there was any person who would have just waited. It felt condescending for her to ask that. So I guess I wont get to do any cool classroom stuff till Monday.

So late last night I was bored and remembered something Cl8n told me about a while ago. S website called Pandora.com. Its this website that is a make-your-own radio stations. I absolutely love it. You just type in an artist or a song you wanna hear and it will play songs that are like that song. For instance I typed in Jonas Brothers (because I am a loser who lives 7 to 10 years younger than I actually am) and it played songs by them and Boys like Girls, etc. It is really cool and honestly the more you tell it that you like, the more all the songs it plays are ones you will like. I cannot praise it enough. Now I just have to figure out how to get around the firewall of death at school to play it from school.

In about 10 minutes I can go and watch Judo online from the Olympics in China. I am excited. I cannot wait till there is good stuff on TV. I love to watch most sports but these opening ceremonies are killing me.

I know its terrible but we have lived in this apartment for about a month and a half and we still are not fully unpacked and cleaned up. Its so sad. I keep working on it but I feel like until I get this school crap out of my dining room there is no point. I did however clean the kitchen and organize the cabinets and pantry today. I felt accomplished.

Ok. The craziest thing. I was looking out the window and then this U-haul pulled behind a Tahoe backed in a took up 4 spots in front of my apartment. Like the most prime parking in the entire place. I was pissed even though it effected me none. Thats just how I am. It makes me mad that they thought their moving in was more important than 3 other people getting to park by their apartment after a long day at work because it was almost 5. I just pisses me off severely.

So I am looking at it occasionally and then I finally see the girl that I guess it belongs to and it just happens to be a girl from my summer program for certification. The one girl I would probably say was rude and annoying that I don't really care for. She is moving in upstairs. Its not enough that we are working for the same district but now she needs to live in my apartment complex and in my building. Grrrr.

I promised Morgan that we would go see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for her birthday which starts officially in 1 hour and 2 minutes but we cannot go home this weekend Cl8n has to work and its just too much money. So I guess we will go next weekend. I cannot wait though. I just watched the first movie because I DVR'd it off ABC family last weekend. It actually made me cry quite a bit. I haven't seen a movie like that in a while. I see that the Notebook is on next weekend and that is another tearfest but I love it.

So I have been planning my get-to-know-you powerpoint for the first day of school that I will hsow to my students to get to know me. I want to make them do goals well goals and just stuff they are looking forward to this year for instance my example will include
*HSM3 (High School Musical 3 October 24)
* Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince (November 21)
* Twilight the Movie (December 12)
and other things that I am just looking forward to. I love having things to count down towards. I am always counting the days till my birthday (75) till Christmas (138), etc.

I think I done for now because it is time for Judo and I out of my drink so I gotta get up anyways.

"I will love you everyday of forever"~E
Krister

Thursday, August 7, 2008

kinda sad, kinda nerdy

I just got back from shopping for new school clothes. Its so funny to me that I am more nervous about these clothes and this first day of school than I was anytime when I was the student. Do students know we are this scared of them? I never thought of my teachers being nervous or scared. But man I sure am.

I am sitting here being such a nerd online. While I am writing this I am also watching/ listening to the Breaking Dawn Concert Series on iClips. I thought it was on at 9 but it wasn't on until 10 so instead of going back to cleaning my apartment like I was before what did I do? I went to utube and watched as many twilight videos, interviews and trailers as I could in 1 hour. It is so sad yet so nerdy.

I have never had withdrawals from anything before but I am betting it feels a little like this. It is almost suffocating that there will be no more for me to read about Bella and Edward. I just need another novel to fall into. I don't know if it will ever make the Twilight Saga dim but at least it will distract me.

On another note my principal finally emailed me back and said that I could come in anytime and get my textbooks and the keys to my classroom. Cl8n and I will go tomorrow. It will be nice because I need to take the stuff I have put to the side to my classroom finally and get it out of my dinning room. It will be a lot easier to actually get the apartment closer to clean and finally unpacked once this stuff is gone.

Cl8n's 2 days off are over and now it will be quite a while before there is anymore down time spent together at home. This week he works all weekend and then next week he is off Friday, Saturday and Sunday because we are going home for Cade's (Cl8n's little brother) going away party. He is leaving for the Marines and its a 4 hour drive so that's our entire weekend.

Right when we get back my job starts officially and I am no longer a free woman. Its going to be tough and Cl8n and I know it but still I don't think we know how tough its going to be.

Well Stephenie is about to go on and talk about Breaking Dawn so I am going to jet but I will write later.

I love you too Cl8n
Krister

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

And the Husband chimes in.....

I just wanted to say hello. This is mostly krister's project but I will step in at times to defend myself as needed.

So far marriage has been wonderful. There have been some small problems relating to trying to pay bills left over from the wedding but all in all we are excited about all the things going for us. We are a little nervous about the next few months until I graduate from A&M in December. I will be commuting from where we live to College Station (about 1 hour) everyday. This will put a strain on our marriage financially but even more so with the time we will be missing together. I am sure krister has mentioned it and it will be the topic of many posts during the next few months.

I love you Krister

Breaking Dawn

OK I know I am 22 almost 23 but I cannot help but fall into YA fiction.

It did not all start but got much worse last summer when I was the Youth Librarian for my old Public Library. It was just a job but I fell in love. I loved the people, the work and the books. Oh the books! I went to work everyday and got to be around books. Who could ask for more?

I had three or four volunteers that worked under me including Cl8n's sister, Morgan. Morgan and this other kid Matt were my two favorites and we really connected. They are both really young, just getting in high school but they were fun to be around for work. Throughout the summer we really got into reading. I probably read a good 100 books last summer plus completing the 100 best children's books and working my way at least half way through the AFI's top 100 movies of all time. Matthew really got my into quite a few different series but the one that I am absolutely obsessed with it Twilight Sags by Stephenie Meyer.

Twilight was enthralling. I could not put it down. New Moon was captivating but I was not pleased with the book until the very end. Eclipse was the most moving, I cried during a few good parts. I loved Bella and Edward. I dreamed about them all the time. Finally Breaking Dawn was coming....

Last Friday it finally came. I went to Barnes and Nobel with Cl8n and another teacher friend and her little sister to get the book when it came out at 12:01. I was so excited. When we finally got there I regretted it immediately. There was no fun Twilight stuff going on. Just an extremely packed store. We immediately got in line behind a group of girls who don't even warrant an explanation other than "ugh". Finally we got the book and left and I was happy again. I had the book in hand and felt the world was right.

My plan was to read it very slowly kinda like I did with Harry Potter 7 so it wasn't completely over for me, not yet at least. Same with Breaking Dawn, I wasn't ready to let go yet. I wanted to just read a few pages but when 6 am came and I was on page 278 I knew all was lost.

The worst part was that since Cl8n's grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary party was the next day in Glenn Rose we had a 4 1/2 hour drive at 9 that morning. I slept till 8 then got up to get ready. I was so tired and grouchy but I managed to read about 30 pages on the road which is a feat since I get really car sick. That took up most of our day then dinner with my 'rents and finally the same 4 1/2 hour drive back to Houston put us home after midnight. I slept in the next morning but poor Cl8n had work an hour away at 9am. I had my final paper due for my summer II class but I wasn't going to let that stand between me and Breaking Dawn. So of course I put the paper off and read like there was no tomorrow because clearly my "take my time" plan wasn't working for me. I finished it before 9pm

I loved it.

Once I finish reading Eclipse aloud to Cl8n then I will read Breaking Dawn to him and I think that is the only thing holding me together. I know it ill be devastating when I don't have to check StephenieMeyer.com everyday. Until then I will just keep rereading the books.

I need another great love story to keep my attention but for now....

I am on to Maximum Ride.

The better half,
~Krister

Why I am Here

I am going through some pretty cool things in my life right now that I do not want to forget. I am mostly doing this blog so that I will have a written account of this year and maybe more for me to look over later and remember. I guess it is a mix between scrapbooking and writing in a diary. I also want other people that are doing the same things as me, such as being a newlywed or a brand new teacher to know they aren't alone because I want to know that too. Hopefully if there are problems with anything I am going through someone else will have already done and can tell me what to do. You know, possibly make friends on here that can relate to me and I can relate to them.
I really want to commit to this because it is important to me. My husband commutes and also goes to school so we wont see each other very often for the first5 months or so until he graduates. He will get to read this and know what I think and whats going on with me on those nights when her gets home hours after I have gone to bed. My family and friends are also not very nearby so this is also a communication of whats going on with me so it feels like we have talked everyday.

In the end I just hope to actually do this and maybe find some other people who are going through the same things as me. Keeping in touch with my friends and family is my main goal.

goodbye for now
Krister