No matter what I decide, I'm screwing someone...

My assistant principal evaluated me today. I thought it was a great class. Someone came in to talk to her during the evaluation, and I just ignored her (like I'm supposed to).

At 7th period, I was buzzed on the intercom and asked to meet the assistant principal in the other assistant principal's office after school. I'm thinking, "Damn. What did I do that warranted me a meeting with two assistant principals?"

So, after 7th period ended I locked up my room and walked over, wondering how I screwed up. Upon getting to the office, I see the first assistant principal with another woman. I sit down and they smile at me and my AP says, "This is a set-up." Great.

Actually, the conversation wasn't bad. It was good. They told me that the AP English teacher (advanced placement) sucked. They said that the kids were extremely vocal about how they weren't learning anything. This wasn't the first time I heard this tidbit of info. A former student of mine (who was moved to AP) told me she wanted to come back to my class because she was bored. A new student told me she got out of AP because the teacher was boring and they weren't learning anything.

The assistant principal and the other woman (who turned out to be the Magnet School coordinator) asked me to take over the AP classes because they like how I interact with the students, ask them thought-provoking questions and give them extra background info that the other teacher didn't know. Wow. Here's the catch: that ex-AP teacher is going to take over my classes and I have to move to a different wing (and moving all of my shit would be rough). Now, if she can't connect with the smart kids, how in hell is she going to connect with the rough kids? I know my kids - they are going to eat her alive.

This is such a tough decision. Do I screw my present kids by giving them up to this teacher or do I screw the smart kids because their teacher isn't challenging them enough? I'm going to be on the other side of the school (in an isolated wing), and my kids might not want to come to see me. Do I go to nice hallway where the kids are more wanting to learn or do I stay with the kids who might not graduate if they don't connect with this new teacher (some of these kids are on their way out)?

I talked to Matt for a long while and Andy briefly and they both said the same thing: go for it. Matt's input was "think of yourself - this is your job, what is better for YOU?" And Andy said, "Hell, if you turn it down tell them I'll take it!" (he teaches middle school English at a school far rougher than mine and his teaching goal is to teach AP high school English).

So, I'm going to take it. I'm going to move into the AP hallway, where the teachers aren't as fun as those around me, where the halls are quiet without the excitement, drama and humor of my hallway, where my class sizes will be cut in half, where the number of special ed kids will probably be lower, where the delinquent kids probably won't be. I'm going to teach kids who want to learn, instead of those who are just waiting until they are of drop-out age. But I'm also abandoning those kids who connected with me. I hope they accept this new teacher. If not, I hope they'll come to my tutorials because they will still be very much welcome and encouraged to come.

So we'll see. Can you tell I feel guilty? But I'm going to feel guilty no matter what I decide.

Not Surprised

Well, I went to Weight Watchers today. I'm not upset, nor am I surprised, for I did gain 2 pounds. I'm ok with that because my eating habits since I weighed last (almost two weeks ago) was horrible - I made some really poor choices. Next time will be better for I have a new determination!

I had to give up my truck. :( I had so much fun with it! The plus, however, is that my car now has air-conditioning again and the engine problems were fixed - no more vibrations! It's almost like a new car, if only I would clean it out... maybe Sunday.

Oh, and grades are due. Parents will not be happy....

31 days until the Marine Corps Marathon. Am I ready? Physically - nope. Psychologically - yep! Bring it on!

A Truck Drivin' Texan

So, the Weight Watchers meeting was cancelled due to Rita (the offices aren't opening until tomorrow). So I have to agonize yet another day, wondering how much weight I've gained and how much further I am from my goal. ARGHHH.

My little Ford Escort two-door that I've been driving for three years had a bit of engine problem (idling) and an air-conditioning problem (no A/C - no cold air is blowing). I took it in early this morning and assumed it would be ready by this afternoon. By 2:30pm, I hadn't heard from the dealership so I called. They hadn't looked at my car yet, but it was next in line. My car was not going to be ready today, but since it's still under warranty, I can get a rental. Grumble, grumble. Fine. I arrive at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car place at the dealership. The only car available at the moment is, and I'm dead serious, a 2005 cherry red, fully loaded F-150 four-door extended cab truck. Do you want it? OF COURSE!!!!!!!!! Keep in mind, I have a very small car and since I haven't driven a monster in about 8 years, it took a few moments to gather my bearings. Then I was having a blast on the streets with it. Parking is ok, but backing out is a bitch.

Can I keep it? Please? Please, Mr. Enterprise, I'll trade you my tiny car. I'm having so much fun!

Drat. School starts again tomorrow. Must spend the evening gathering my stuff and doing laundry. But only three more days until Saturday!!

2 hours and counting...

Two more hours until weigh-in. If I stay the same, I'll be happy. If I lost this week, I'll believe in miracles. If I gain, I won't be surprised. I think I've just cleared all the possibilities, so I just have to wait.

Oh, and a cold front is coming in Thursday! The high Saturday is supposed to be 88! Woo-hoo! Low of 68-70. So I'm defintely going to do 16 miles, but if I haven't passed out, maybe I'll do an extra lap around Memorial, which will make my total 19 miles.

I am going to hurt Saturday night. I am already planning an ice bath and lots of movie-and-couch time.

Am I insane?

So, my second marathon is quickly approaching. As in, it's 5 weeks away. I ran my first marathon in June, and I have not been training for this one as much as I did for the San Diego marathon. Am I insane? Probably. I should not be running this marathon, but since I already managed to get one of the highly coveted spots, I feel obligated to do it. It's so fucking hot lately that I haven't had the desire to run. I ran 15 miles two weeks ago, and I think that was really the last time I ran. I should be running a 21-miler this Saturday, but I refuse to do it because it's still going to be 95 degrees and I have no desire to die of heat stroke. So, I will run a mere 16 miles, try NOT to pass out and just suck it up. So by the time of the real marathon comes, I'm going to be fucked up by the time I limp through the finish line. If any of my fans are in Washington DC during the Marine Corps Marathon, you'll see what agony looks like at the finish line. On the other hand, I was experiencing foot pain right before San Diego, and it got a bit worse during the actual race. Since I haven't been training as much, I feel no pain so at least that won't hurt. I am slightly afraid for my calves, though. They tend to tighten up.

But at least I'll be in good shape for the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon in February, and the Houston half marathon in January.

I talked to one of my best friends on the phone, April. She was my college roommate and is the one person I call when I want to throw myself off a bridge - she cheers me up and threatens to come to Houston and throw candy at me (long story). She's in DC and I'll be staying with her during my race.

After I lost 130 pounds, she became inspired and also lost a crapload of weight. But while she's been shrinking lately, I've expanded and now I'm back up to a total weight loss of 105 pounds. Yes, I'm 25 pounds heavier than I was 3 years ago. But I am an emotional eater and in those three years, I've had major job stress (including a total career change) and two break-ups (one good, one absolutely devastating). Needless to say, the weight piled on.

After talking to her today and finding out how much she's lost, I became extremely envious (and told her so). But she has now inspired me to take leave of my self-inflicted eating pity party and get back to what I was three years ago, and to continue until I lose 40-45 pounds. Plus, losing the weight will make my marathon times better - eventually I'd like to finish one within 5 hours. And when you're 40-45 pounds overweight.... Yeah. I'm slow.

I rejoined Weight Watchers last week due to frustration, but have not been following the points this week. I have to weigh in tomorrow, which I am terribly afraid of. But tomorrow starts a new week, and I am going to drop some weight before the marathon.

That's it. I've made up my mind. I will drop the weight. I can do it. I've already lost 105 pounds.

I'll keep you posted....

Gasoline and Sugar Gliders

I was able to get gas today!!! Many of the stations in town are still lacking in their primary income-gaining product, but there's one station near my house that had it! I drove by several times during the day, on my way to somewhere else, and each time the line was way too long for my liking. At 11pm, however, there was no line so I zipped in, filled up, and zipped out. Mind you I only needed less than half a tank of gas, but I think from now on I'm going to only let my car get half empty. I don't ever want to have to wait in a 4-hour long line waiting for gas. Oi.

I introduced Matt to my sugar gliders last night. Sugar gliders, for those who don't know what they are, are little animals also known as flying squirrels. One of the girls who used to work for me (when I was a Starbucks manager) raised them and I fell in love with them and bought two of their offspring. So I own Hero and Kate, sugar glider sisters. They are the funniest, most curious creatures and I have many laughable stories about them (like the time I lost Hero and accidentally discovered her in a box of cereal). Anyways, despite Matt's negative plea, I brought them out of their cage last night. I won't go into details about his reaction to them, suffice it to say that he wasn't too fond of my little darlings and that last night I laughed harder than I have done so in a while. :)

Today's schedule: open. Nothing pressing, school's still cancelled. I hope my gym is open today. Or maybe the Galleria. Shopping makes me happy.

Diet Coke, Shampoo, and Razor Blades

Woo-hoo! Walgreens was open yesterday! During my post-Rita tour of Houston, I discovered an open Walgreens. It was nice to see that I was not the only person bored out of her/his mind: Walgreens was packed. I was so thankful to be anywhere but home, I actually took the time to browse the aisles and bought some stuff I didn't need (at least, I didn't need it now, but my checkcard was itching to be used).

Today was much better. Not only is the traffic starting to look normal, but the movie theater was open (Matt and I saw "The Exorcism of Emily Rose") AND I found an open Starbucks!! My university is closed tomorrow, so my night class is cancelled (I have an extra week to read my chapters), but if things continue on their current track, everything will be open. Hopefully my car dealership will be open because my air conditioner is still broken and I am going to take advantage of the fact that my school is cancelled until Wednesday.

I don't know when Matt is going back to Louisiana. Probably sometime this week (depending on when I-10 is open again and if their house in Lafayette is livable). It'll be odd. These past 3 weeks have been a fabulous whirl-wind. With him gone, this will be the first big test of our relationship. Will being in different cities change our opinions of each other? Will this be one of those situations in which the relationship was formed out of necessity due to a disaster, only upon reflection to decide a different course of action? Or will absence make the heart grow fonder? Luckily I'm in Houston for at least two more years. I say luckily because this gives us the perfect reason to not go too fast. I love Houston, and whereas I say I can live anywhere, I don't want to move now. I want to experience more of Houston as an adult. I've only been here a few years (after college) and most of those years were living in a depressed state.

Am I making any sense or am I just rambling?

Prison Break

My mother kicked my English-teacher ass in Scrabble. I won the first game, but she got her revenge in game two. The tie-breaker will be tonight after dinner...

Rumor has it that grocery stores will be opening again today. I think I will break out of my house and determine the validity of those rumors. I've been craving a Diet Coke all afternoon, made worse by the fact I couldn't get any. Andrea and Jeremiah decided to take an adventure this afternoon to see how their part of the city is... I have yet to hear an update.

The Houston Chronicle reported local post-hurricane findings. A random white goat was found on the porch of a house in Third Ward, licking himself. How the goat found itself near the high school where I teach, I don't know. I don't have all the answers. Yet.

Oh, and Evacuee Man said I could use his name in my blog. He will henceforth known to my captive audience as Matt (or Magnum Matt as his friends know him).

Can You Die of Cabin Fever?

I cannot express how bored I am. Houston is closed, the storm didn't hit us much and there is nothing to do. I am locked in my house with nothing but schoolwork, and even that gets tedious after a while (I've written lesson plans for the next month, caught up on my personal homework and wrote some exams). And to make matters worse, HISD is closed Monday and Tuesday of next week so I am stuck in boredom for a longer period of time. Plus this screws up my lesson plans and I have to figure out what to do...

Houston is fine, by the way. Not much damage, just some wayward branches and leaves and other random tree parts. But the problem Houston is going to face is the reverse evacuation - and we still don't have gasoline!! I blame Katrina. If Katrine never hit, the panic would never have been caused and we would be ok.

God, I hope we're back to normal soon. I can handle HISD being closed Monday and Tuesday, but only if there are alternative forms of entertainment, such as the Galleria being open or perhaps a movie theatre. Also, maybe Starbucks is damaged - I told them I'd come in and help them clean the place up.

Did I mention how bored I was? I am about to embark on game two of Scrabble with my mother. I'll keep you posted...

Oh, and Super Evacuee Man and his family are still in the hotel - squished into one room. I shouldn't be complaining about my boredom (in comparison with what theirs might be), but I can't help it. But they are handling it far better than I would be. I'd have suffered from an emotional breakdown by now.

Friday Night With Cheesecake

I feel like a prisoner. Houston has been evacuated, yet the storm isn't really going to hit here anymore. I'm not upset by all means about the evacuation (because it was originally projected to come here), but I'm bored. I'm one of the ones who remained and this city is like a ghost town. Nothing is open. None of my friends are here. Evacuee Man is in his hotel room with his family in downtown. I am bored. And for the life of me, I can't get my enter button to work right on this blog and as an English teacher, writing all of my thoughts in one jumbled paragraph is beginning to annoy the shit out of me. Anyways. I'm trapped in my house with my mother, dogs, sugar gliders and turtle. The positive thing is that I managed to write two-and-a-half exams, three weeks' worth of lesson plans for my freshman class, vocabulary lists, etc. Tomorrow, I am writing three weeks' worth of lesson plans for my sophomore class and finishing "Farenheit 451" for the same class. Oh, and I have to read two chapters for my EDUC class at UST. And I need to spend 5 minutes on my laptop finishing my grades. Next weekend, or perhaps this week, I am going to research the Cold War and themes and such for "Farenheit 451." Ahh.... I needed this hurricane time off.

Buh-bye Rita

Well, although it appears I will be seeing Rita, she will not be a guest-of-honor. She took a turn and will now be hitting land (probably) around Lake Charles, which puts Houston on the slightly safer west side of the eye. So we'll still get it, but not as bad. Oh, and Evacuee Man and his family had to return to Houston. After 6 hours of being in the car, they had barely gone 60 miles outside of Houston. So they're here, after my frantic calling of hotel rooms. Their room, however, could only be booked for one night so they might be staying here with me tomorrow night.

An Univited Guest

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - I was more connected with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath than I expected. A very good friend of mine from New Orleans fled with his family to Houston and damned if we didn't hook up. I wasn't looking to start dating anyone (especially someone who doesn't even live in Houston), but it just happened. We've known each other for 6 years, are not dating anyone else at the time and pretty much just realized how well we work together. He adores me and I adore him and we've been spending all of my free time together (he has been living in the Westin Oaks in the Galleria for three weeks, which means he has tons of free time). Unfortunately, his family (and thus him) fled Houston today to attempt to find a safer area due to the uninvited guest named Rita. So, whereas I miss him terribly, I get a weekend to myself to catch up on stuff.

So, Hurricane Rita is on her way. As the hours grow, her projected path moves slightly to the east, putting us out of the horrible danger. It's still bad and can move again, but for now, the eye will pass just slightly east of Houston. Being that I'm in west Houston, I'll still get the 80mph winds and the possibility of no electricity, but my mom and all of the pets and I are prepared. We've enough food, water and batteries to last us a while.

The storm isn't going to hit us until late tomorrow, so my mom and I are using this time to get the house ready, put all of the patio furniture into the garage, and moving cars. We can't put the cars into the garage (no room), so hopefully a tree won't fall on them. Although having a crushed car means getting a new one!! Hmm. Maybe that's not such a bad idea. (just kidding).

I'm also using this time to finish my grades. My first six weeks has ended and grades are going to be due soon after HISD opens again. I will be finishing the grading process and compile the data to form final grades. My kids' parents are in for a surprise - many (and I mean many) are failing. And they're failing because they're not doing the work. Those kids who are failing don't care, and it's really sad. By the way, I did indeed give up on "Harrison Bergeron," by the novel we are reading soon is "Farenheit 451" which is also very difficult to these kids because their imaginination is limited. I have to give them tons of background information and maybe even an intro study guide.

I'll keep everyone posted on my storm process. I have to go now and put patio furniture in the garage.

Daily Rant

My daily rant focuses on the price of gas. I need gas in my car. The last time I bought gas (last weekend), I paid $2.59 a gallon. Today, I priced gas anywhere from $3.09-$3.19 a gallon. I should've filled up my tank again just two days ago. And now the price of a gallon of gas has exceeded the price of a gallon of milk.

Today was almost, but not quite, hell. Being a Friday, my students are antsy. Add a few more elements to the mix, however, and you get today. Not only was today a Friday, but today was a Friday before a three-day weekend, an early dismissal day AND a pep rally day. My seventh period didn't happen and all of the others were way to hyper for my happiness.

I was utterly stunned today. I know I'm intelligent, and I realize I'm more intelligent than many of my students (or maybe I should just say more educated). Today, however, brought me to frustration. For the life of me, I could not explain the symbolism and satirical nature of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron." They didn't understand even my simplist terms. Here's a prime example of why children should read the newspaper and watch the news: they need to be updated DAILY on government and their surroundings. I had to give up today. I'm going to have to do more research for the next story so that I will never have to give up again.

I gave in...

I did it. I have given in to a fad. Despite my self-disappointment, I do see the good in it. I love to write, and this gives me a reason to write on a daily basis. Not only do I benefit, but my friends and family can benefit as well, seeing as that my calendar fills up quickly with new teacher stuff and I do not get to contact those I wish to on a frequent basis.

My blog title is called "Stranger in a Strange Land" for several reasons. First of all, I am a high school teacher, teaching in a school in which the demographics are the exact opposite of my personal demographic. I am a stranger there, in a strange land. Meaning: I grew up in West University, Houston and teach in the 3rd Ward in Houston. My students' backgrounds are polar opposites of mine.

Secondly, I find this world getting worse by the day. Case in point... New Orleans. Who would've imagined that the violence and anarchy happening there would ever happen in the U.S., period? I never did. Although I tend to be a bit naive and a tad optimistic in terms of the human race, I know that bad people exist (case in point... Iraq). This turn of events a mere 5.5 hours away, though, hits too close to home. Sometimes I want to be a recluse.