end of day 1, or something, but maybe the beginning of a long blogging pause.

Sometimes I feel like I'm falling
Fall back again, fall back again,
Fall back again, fall back again

Oh, life it seems a struggle between
what we think and what we see
Well I'm not going to change my ways
just to please you or appease you
Inside a crowd, five billion proud
willing to punch it out
Right, wrong, weak, strong
ashes to ashes all fall down
Look around about this round about
this merry-go-round and around
Well If at all God's gaze upon us falls
it's with a mischievous grin, look at him

Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
our emotions can be swept away
Forget about being guilty
we are innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away

Late at night with TV's hungry child
his belly swells
Oh, for the price of a coke or a smoke
Keep alive those hungry eyes
Take a look at me, what you see in me
Mirror look at me
Face it all again

Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty
we are innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion
and your cup is overflowing
You seek up on emotion,
sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
for him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you, the devil's not
going, "Ha ha, ha ha"

Oh look at me in my fancy car
and my bank account
Oh, how I wish I could take it all down
into my grave, God knows I'd save and save
Man, take a look again, take a look again
Everyday things change, basically they stay the same

Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
our emotions can be swept away
Intentions are not wicked, don't be tricked into thinking so
And soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion
and your cup is overflowing
You seek up an emotion,
sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
for him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you, the devil's not
going, "Ha ha, ha ha"

Fall back again, fall back again
Fall back again, fall back again

on iTunes:
Under Pressure, both Queen/David Bowie and The Used/My Chemical Romance.
on list of pet peeves:
going to YRL or Powell for the 4th time this summer to find that the library catalog is Using Metaphors about having books.
on the DVD burner:
classroom video after classroom video after classroom video.
on my knee:
the same pack of frozen french cut green beans. it only seems gross if you plan to eat them. otherwise it's a great reusable ice pack.
on my mind:
my first solo PD workshop with 30 teachers. sept 1.
off my mind:
the worry about juggling 3-4 full courses with work and teaching. Megan is the best.
on tap for the weekend:
Aptos and a Giants game, complete with full-fledged fans and tailgating. Yay for the Kondos!

Barrington Literary Society, month 1, completed. Interesting convo. Love intellectual discussion. We need more. More frequently. And perhaps without this necessity of planning and organization (that ultimately falls on a non-TV type of evening).

next up, suggested by Alex:
The wind-up bird chronicle / Haruki Murakami ; translated
from the Japanese by Jay Rubin.

Call Number: PL856.M929 N3E 1997

yay for YRL!

some things to learn from Gracie (paraphrased from memory and hopefully not totally misrepresented):

1. recognize the injustices of the world, combat them in your own way; recognize the beauty that exists around you

2. let yourself be amazed by people and connect with them

3. take the time to develop and fine tune your skill set, keeping your goals firmly grounded and in sight

4. shop frequently and guiltlessly at Trader Joe's

5. travel

Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light.

Just bring us some nice medium to medium-rare filet mignons, some ridiculous crab cakes, a 2002 Honig Cabernet, and that crazy chocolate lava cake souffle thing. Chink

Are YOU a Fleming?

on iTunes (wired through the sound system):
Wake Up, from Jagged Acoustic

on the way to being picked up and laundered (by me):
all the clothing that's plaguing my closet and less-used furniture

on my knee:
a pack of frozen french cut green beans. I'm down but I'm not out, dammit.

on deck for bedtime reading:
Diary, by Chuck Palahniuk

on the to-do list for work:
-transcription (why is it transcribing a transcript? not transcripting? but transcription is ok?)
-survey gender equity in mathematics NSF and AAUW reports, get on JRME search
-transcribe interviews to get going on 2nd yr project
-lesson plan for week 1

onward.

jolly good, cup o' tea

So we did it. We got through the first day of school. I taught for the first time. Craziness. Thad really rocks. I could NOT do this on my own. It's a pretty incredible experience.

AND I woke up at 5:45am and was at the school and coherent by 7:15am. Now THAT's an accomplishment of it's own.

So the concert last night was so much fun, albeit a bit hopped up on [insert favorite rock star stimulant here]. And it's always fun being the only one NOT [insert favorite phrase for getting high]. :) So where should I put my new drumset? What? You can't be Meg White if you can't play the drums...

I could be Meg.
I could be Jack.

INSANE! Also, give it up for Beck Hansen! So who else has ADD now?



and... goodnight.

So school starts tomorrow. My first real teaching experience. I want to go in with expectations because you always have to have goals as the foundation for whatever you do. I also want to go in expecting to be completely shocked by these 33 kids, by this school, by all the ins and outs of what actually goes on day-to-day in urban schools. I know to expect a huge challenge, and ultimately what will be gained by this upcoming year is intense growth, both for me, for Thad, and for all the kids.

And climbing with Vicky was so fun yesterday! I did Tad's purple 10b and got one move farther on the stemming purple 11a. AND Vicky is OBSESSED! (and really good too!)

revision to previous post:
TVP Book Club = Barrington Literary Society (apparently I don't read my emails closely enough) :)

recent podcasts listened to:
KCRW's to the point - 8.12.05 - Googled!

recent books read:
A Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-time (a la TVP book club)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer (aka Everything is Illuminated author)

recent iTunes/iPod playlists:
Mellow Seven (there are more than seven)
1. Razor - Foo Fighters
2. Timothy - Jet
3. Fair - Remy Zero
4. Wake Up - Alanis Morissette (Jagged Acoustic)
5. On Your Porch - The Format
6. New Slang - The Shins
7. Don't Panic - Coldplay
8. Anna Begins - Counting Crows
9. Nobody's Fault by My Own - Beck

recent concerts:
Alanis Jagged Acoustic Tour (with an intentional omission of the opening performer)

upcoming concerts:
White Stripes at the Wiltern!!

recent favorite snack:
Trader Joe's Garlic Naan with Tomato Basil Hummus

recent climbing route projects:
the purple stemming 11a
the light green bouldering route (v1?)

recent voicemails:
Vicky asking to climb two days in a row. She's obsessed too! Go Rockreation!

So I'm here, at JayDee, my lovely 20in IMAC with matching used-to-be-white-but-not-so-much-since-I-use-it-so-much keyboard and mouse. I am surrounded by piles of data bound by rubberbands, a line of mini DV's that have fallen prey to the domino effect, some odds and ends (because clutter is my greatest sin), my new desk calendar that I furiously write all notes and to-do's on, my fun CD holder that I picked up with Mell at that crazy art store in SF, and a cup of freshly brewed coffee with soy (only because the 1% went bad) in that ceramic mug I color-me-mine'd years ago.

To my left is my bitchin' new sound system that Arun got me for my birthday, complete with speakers on speaker stands at the far ends of the room, on top of which lies my Speck Products iGuy... I'm going to have to post a picture of that one. It doesn't get any funnier, especially when I need to carry a larger purse to actually go anywhere with the thing. Arun's suggestion is to just manuever the arms and have it hang from my bag. I'll have to try that one sometime on a day that I actually WANT to get accosted on the street.

The ipod is in its dock, updating the most recent KCRW podcasts and the new U2 playlist I put together for my next beach rollerblade session.

The corner is where the accent wall meets pearl city. I am continually drawn to admiring the contrast of the two walls, of the wall and the window frame, of the corner and my ipod.

On today's to-do list:
- tutor the lovely ladies
- rollerblade the boardwalk
- transcribe
- transcribe
- lesson plan
- transcribe
- squeeze in some bouldering
- transcribe
- study with Arun

onward. :)

ps. Everything is Illuminated is coming out on film (wow, I can't believe I remembered my html tags...)

It's funny. All these posts now start with "it's been a long time... geez it's been long..." I was completely inclined to start THIS one the same way. So, almost 6 months since the last post? That's not bad. Ok here goes the update.

Let's talk about the last couple of weeks.

My eyes are about to fall out from transcribing Ms. Min's classroom. Quite amazing conversation from these kids, by the way. We're really learning a lot from just this handful of classrooms. Yay research!

I served jury duty. I was actually pretty interested in getting on a case. The hot prosecuting attorney decided to cut me, however, which ended up being a good thing because it was the end of the day and the court was not meeting until the following Monday, which means the rest of my group had to report back to the courthouse the following week without knowing if they were really on the jury or not. And the way these lawyers were babbling on, I think the case would have dragged on much longer than they originally had told us. Still, I would kill to know exactly why they decided to me off the jury. And did you know that all citizens are on two lists now from which they select jurors? It's based on your voter registration AND your driver's license registration, and these two lists are not in some central database. That means you're pretty much twice as likely to get chosen now than, say, 5 years ago.

I celebrated by 24th birthday. Yeah, 24 years. My poor parents are definitely feeling old. And so am I, with my "let's hang out at the beach then head to dinner and not get totally sloshed and head home and to bed at a reasonable hour." It was nice though, catching up with old friends, enjoying some amazing southern California-ness, eating good food, and drinking badass blueberry mojitos (mine, of course). It was definitely a good birthday year, with my peaceful breakfast at a french bakery sans company but avec book.

We went out for Stacy's birthday last night to good ol' Hermosa beach. A night out with the girls should be required every few weeks for sanity purposes, even if that means rudely demanding meat market shoppers (i.e. guys that go to Sharkeez) to just leave, dammit. And Stacy was Ms. Independent (even if it turned awkward), and Vinita scored a great farm-raised guy, and Dez was part polish. :) And then we see two guys staring at us on the sidewalk (while Dez was being accosted by mr poland) and hear "Angela..." It was Garin Glassy! Mr. best eyes. My first slow dance. PVIS, 7th grade, auditorium. That's right. What a fond memory to re-live. Yet another piece of closure on my adolescence. Too bad I forgot to ask about his band.

So here we are today. Stacy and I climbed this morning and I made it halfway up an 11a. Not bad for a morning after a night out drinking and dancing, huh? Then it was back to transcribing, a nice trip to Trader Joes (where the nice lady thanked me for using reusable grocery bags), transcribing again, a nice rollerblade along the boardwalk, a peaceful sunset off of Ocean Park, and now here, actually blogging.

Tonight it's off to Swingers for a late supper. Mac and Cheese and hummus and pita. And maybe some sauteed quinoa. Mmm.

I feel like I need to leave this with a "the moral of the story is" kind of statement. I think I'm realizing how important it is to have real connections with people. It really can't be faked or forced. That's what makes it hard... but in the end more worthwhile?