vacation

Yeah I am officially on vacation! I fly to California tomorrow...woohoo!

I have one week to see my S.F. friends, my old work friends, my college friends, my family and my high school friends. I wish I had two weeks. It all feels so rushed.

To all you Teach Me Tiger blog readers out there...see on the westside.

snow way

I knew it was coming. It has been all over the news for days. "The Blizzard of '06" (said in a cheezy newscaster voice)

I shopped, along side my fellow nutmeggers, stocking up on all the essentials in case I happen to get stranded in my house for a few days. I scrambled to get a jug of water and fought for a bag of pretzels and then withstood long lines.

hunkered down in my house last night as the first snowflake fell, I was eager for the skis to open up and dump snow. But after a half hour of snowing it stopped...and i went to sleep.

i woke up at 6:17am to a huge crash. i was in that 'half dream half awake state'. as i woke up a bit more i decided that i did hear something. now i had two choices... should i get up and look around because it could be a tree that fell on my house or should i stay in bed because it could be a robber/rapist.

somehow i found the courage to get up (the thought of a tree having crashed through my roof motivated me) and look around.

just as i walked into the livingroom 'crash' it happened again. the house shook, the windows rattled. it was thunder and lightening. i was relieved that it was not a tree or a stranger. i jumped back in bed. the thunder kept me awake for awhile but soon i was fast asleep again.

when i woke up in the morning everything was blanketed in snow and it was still coming down. the blizzard was on!

the snow came down all day continuously. i enjoyed my water and pretzels, watched a movie, read my book and sewed a blanket. it was the best blizzard day i have ever had.

then i got the phone call that school is cancelled tomorrow! this day can't get any better.

(i just heard on the news that this winter storm has a name...Winter Storm Carson...wow, winter storms are the new hurricanes)

gospel lunch

Once a month my school has something called 'classical cafe' (or as I saw a kid write in her journal today 'class school cafe) where we have singers/dancers/musicians from around the world come and play during an hour long lunch.

in honor of black history month we had a gospel group sing at lunch for the kids.

First I have to say that they were amazing! A woman recited Maya Angelou's poem 'Still I Rise' in a way that I will remember for the rest of my life. Also all the songs they sang were filled with emotion and history.

With that said...

It was extreamly religious! They asked the kids to do a lot of call and repeat. For example they would sing "God will save my soul" and then the kids would repeat it back.

At one point they asked the kids to repeat "Jesus washed my sins away" and a girl in my class who is Jewish looked at me and said "I am so not singing that".

Then they asked the kids what 'Amen' means. A boy raised his hand and said, "the end?"

The lady that recited the Maya Angelou poem said the poem was about Jesus. I have always thought it could represent anyone and everyone.

I am all for expanding horizons, but I feel like in a school where half the kids are Jewish, it was a bit inappropriate to have so many songs about Jesus.

Enough of my rant...

Survivor is starting and I can't wait to see the guy who quit smoking go crazy and freak out on everyone.

I wish I was a Gilmore...

I have a small obsession with Gilmore Girls. (I am not sure if an 'obsession' can be small, but by small I mean healthy, not trekkie.)

A new episode is on tonight. I am giddy.

party in my mouth...

the dentist came to speak to my class last week. i have had nightmares ever since.

she told a story (with pictures) of what is going on in a mouth...

There are little bad bacteria people who are having a huge party eating the food that gets stuck in between teeth...then after they are all full and pass out... they poop, yeah they crap out all the food that they ingested all over the teeth and their poop eats away at the teeth.

if there is enough of the little bad bacteria guys poop laying around...your teeth start to get all mushy and sort of melt, which is a cavity.

i have always been an avid teeth brusher but i have increased my brushing from twice a day to at least 3-4 times a day...no little bad bacteria guy is going to poop on my teeth!

february...

When i moved to CT eveyone said, "get ready for the winter...how are you going to survive the snow/cold?...get a down puffy head to toe jacket."

As i sit here in the dead of winter, and it is 55 degrees and a humid rain is falling and my puffy head to toe jacket just takes up space in my closet, i wonder where is the weather i was warned about?

I should have a roaring fire in the fire place, a pile of blackets on me, a good book and some hot tea...

instead i am sitting here looking out the window at a warm rain coming down...wishing it was not raining so i could actually go outside and take advantage of the warmth or it was really cold so i could make snow angels in my head to toe puffy jacket.

I miss san francisco...where it's a reliable 50-60 degrees year round.

Masters?

Applications. As I sit down for the fourth night in a row to write my personal statement, something that is supposed to describe where I came from, what I have done and why I want a masters degree (in one page or less), I begin to think about who is going to be reading this. How much does this person get paid for reading my personal statement? Do they get paid per personal statement that they read or per hour? Is it better to pull a James Frey and take some literary license or just write the somewhat mundane truth?

I just hope the reader and judge of my personal statement, the person who holds my fate in her hands, had a good morning. (yeah I guess I picture a 'her')