Face(palm)book.

Facebook is a wonderful thing. When used properly. Of course, there are no real "rules" for how to use it, but there are things that I see every day that annoy the crap out of me. I'm sure I've been guilty of one or two of these things over the past few years, but some people are repeat offenders. They need their Facebook privileges revoked for a few weeks. Just to give them time to think about what they've done.
   
So anyway, what follows is a comprehensive list of things that annoy me about the people who use Facebook. Keep in mind that I don't have an actual problem with the people who do these things... most of them are friends of mine. In fact, if they read this, they will recognize themselves in one or more of these points. Also, I'm sure there are things that I do on Facebook that annoy other people. Like mentioning coffee every morning. And posting "Let's go Flyers!" every time a hockey game is on. And taking pictures of my beer when I go out to eat. And posting song lyrics that are meaningful to me, but probably no one else.
   
(Funny story... when I told two of my friends that I was working on the outline for this post, both of them were able to guess most of the points I had listed. That tells me that a: they know me really well and b: these things annoy other people, too!)
   
The List (without apology or explanation)
   
General Pet Peeves About the Status Message

• People who have their child or pet as their profile picture. (Yeah, I started with that. I smell hate mail coming soon.)
• Poor grammar, spelling, punctuation, writing in all caps
• Anything that a middle/high school kid would post: WrITinG LIkE tHis, <<<<<<3, overuse of OMG LOL LMAO ROFL, and writing extra letters to make a point... OMGGGGGGG I loveeeeeee himmmmm...

      

Specific Types of Status Messages

• The Vague Status: "I just don't know what to say anymore," "I can't believe it!" (This is a huge cry for attention and you know it.)
• The Passive Aggressive: "Don't tell me how to live my life/raise my kid/do my job. If you don't like it, then shut the f*ck up!"
• The Personal Message as Public Status: "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!" "You're the reason I wake up every morning!" "I love you, shmoopie!" (If the intended recipient of this message is on Facebook, then post it directly to his/her wall. If this person is NOT on Facebook, then get off the damn computer and go tell them!)
• The Daily Schedule: "Breakfast, errands, gym, cleaning the minivan, taking junior to sports event, and then family ice cream time!" "Time for shower and bed!" 
• The Specifics: "Doctor's appointment at 2 PM, then gym at 5!" "Working til 6, dinner, then bed before midnight!" (You're just making it easier for people to stalk you. Or rob your house.)
• Messages to People Who Don't Have a Facebook Account: (And if I didn't piss people off before, this will surely do it...) "Happy 90th birthday, Grandmom!" "Happy 1st birthday little Mikayla! Mommy loves you!" "Merry Christmas, Uncle Ken! I know you're celebrating with us in heaven!" "I miss you every day, Great Aunt Tillie!" (My problem with this is mostly the wording. If you said something like, "I can't believe my baby is 1 already!" or "Thinking about my grandmom today. I know she's celebrating with us in spirit," then that's more acceptable. To me, anyway.)
• Constant Negativity: "My life sucks," "I hate my job," "I never catch a break," "I can't believe this happened again," "Why does this always happen to me?" "Of course I didn't get the job/house/man... nothing ever works for me!" (If this happens more than once a week, it makes me want to delete you from my friend list.)
• Everything's Zen: "Life is wonderful!" "I'm so blessed!" "My friends are my the best!" "The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, I'm in love and everyone should feel as glorious as I do RIGHT NOW!" (There's nothing wrong with being happy, but when you're constantly posting stuff like this, it makes me think you're trying to convince someone. Or convince yourself.)
• Too Much Information About Your Child: "Junior pooped twice this morning, we're waiting on his third!" "Sally did the cutest thing today! She climbed into the chair with her babydoll and pretended to feed it a bottle! Could you DIE from the cuteness??" "Megan threw up 3 times last night and has a temperature of 102. Time for another trip to the ER." (And don't try to tell me that this only annoys me because I don't have my own children.)
• Re-posters: "Copy and paste this if you love your daughter!" "Copy and paste this if you have a cousin that means the world to you!" "Copy and paste this if you hate disease, war, and famine!" "If you love your mom, put this as your status for the next hour!" (So if I DON'T repost this, does that mean I hate my mom?) 

   

I'm sure I'm missing a few things. Feel free to comment and add your own. Or comment and tell me I'm a bitch. That would be fun, too :)

ZUMBA!!!

When I first started my Confidence Goal in January, I didn't quite know where it would lead me. All I knew for sure is that I wanted to concentrate on stepping outside of my comfort zone in any way possible. 
         
Two years ago, I made a resolution to exercise more. I remember writing that exercise had been "my Everest," because I just couldn't motivate myself to make it a regular part of my routine. The purchase of a wii got me up and moving a little more, and a walking game for the wii got me excited about exercising almost daily. I still couldn't quite take the next step to join a gym. I considered myself too out of shape for something like that. I wasn't comfortable moving and sweating in front of other people (who, in my head, were already skinny and toned and incredibly adept at all of the equipment and moves). 
      
And then I started hearing people talk about Zumba. First it was a few co-workers, then some friends on Facebook. I started finding videos on youtube to see what it was all about and I was instantly intrigued. Then one day, a friend posted on Facebook saying that she wanted to lose weight, and I suggested Zumba. We found a class nearby, got a group together, and went for it. 
         
I LOVED it. The music, the moves, the energy. Sure, the first class was rough. I was a little uncoordinated and I was dripping sweat when it was over. But I definitely liked it enough to go back and try it again. Since then, I've made it a weekly (and sometimes twice weekly) part of my routine. 
   
The class is full of REAL women... thank goodness. They wear old t-shirts and messy ponytails and they sweat and they occasionally miss a step or two. Not like the ones you see in the ads and infomercials, with the cropped shirts and perfect abs and flawless movements:
   

   
I'm glad that I found something that I not only enjoy, but look forward to. I'm proud of my ability to stick with the entire hour without stopping (save for the occasional gulp of water from my ever present bottle, of course). Surprisingly, I have become completely comfortable with myself during the class. After the first week, I stopped worrying about how I looked because, let's face it, no one is looking at me - they're all too busy concentrating on their own moves. 
   
Once autumn comes, I won't be able to attend my regular Tuesday class, since I'll be teaching CCD again this year. I guess I'll have to find a class on a different night... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 
   
I'll leave you with these videos from youtube. Just a little taste of what goes on in a Zumba class, in case you were thinking about trying it for yourself. Now if you'll excuse me... I need to go lace up my sneakers. I've got some booty shaking to do tonight :)
   

   

Short stories from summer school...

A few short stories from the past 3 weeks of summer school, for your enjoyment.
   
Timothy is a 6 year old bilingual Vietnamese boy. He's very bright, but gets a little confused about the easy concepts, which might be because of the language barrier. One day in math class we were sorting buttons in different ways - by color, size, shape, number of holes, etc. I put the buttons in piles by size and asked Tim to tell me how they're sorted. "They're all the same shape." he said. "Good try, but no," I said. I turned to call on another boy, but Tim interrupted me. "I know!" he shouted. "They're all the same... shape!" Close, but no cigar, kid.
   
Robert is another 6 year old who has a little trouble sitting still. He was rocking in his chair (after I warned him not to) and fell out of it, landing on his rear end. "Are you okay?" I asked as he stood up. "I'm fine," he said, rubbing his bottom, "but I bumped my noggin."
   
Julio is one of my 7 year old boys. He's fluent in Spanish and working on his English. The things that come out of his mouth are funny... usually unintentionally, though.
   
Last week on a particularly hot day, one of the teachers bought ice pops for all the kids. (Those sugar filled frozen things in the plastic tubes... blech...) Julio was quite enamored with his treat, and expressed his love by saying, "Oh baby... if you could cook, I would marry you."
   
Earlier this week, he brought a lemonade juice box with his snack. He didn't want to finish the whole thing though... according to him, "Lemonade makes you peep a lot. All drinks do."

The wisdom of a 5 year old man.

One of my summer school boys has the look of a man who has seen it all, twice. And for a 5 year old, that's saying a lot. 
   
He tends to be dramatic in his speech... for example, we got a new student on the last day of the second week of summer school. I explained to the boys, "We'll have to teach Tim the math games we learned." Alex jumped out of his seat and said, "Yeah! Literally ALL the games!" (accompanied by an expressive, all-encompassing hand gesture that almost smacked another child in the eye).
      
And he's obsessed with the concept of infinity: 
   
"It's so hot out today. It's like infinity degrees."
   
"How many pages are in this book?! It's like infinity pages!"
   
One day, Julio (who is 7 and bilingual) asked him what infinity actually means. Alex informed him that "it's the last number out of allllll the numbers in the world." I tried to tell him that infinity is just a word we use for a number we can't count, but it's not actually a number. Alex would have none of that, and went on to tell us what infinity would look like if you wrote it. 
   
"Infinity is one zero zero zero zero zero..."
   
"No, honey, infinity isn't a number, it's a word," I said. 
   
Alex continued, "... zero zero zero zero zero..."
   
"Al, you're still just telling me numbers."
      
"... zero zero zero zero zero zero..."
      
At this point, Timothy (6) interrupted him to explain that there IS no last number. "They just keep going!" he exclaimed.
   
"... zero zero ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO..." (As if saying it louder would prove his point.)
   
Unfortunately, a conversation we had on only the 2nd day of summer school told me more than I wanted to know about his home life. 
      
We were transitioning from one activity to another when he suddenly asked, "Miss Adrienne? How was your life when you were a kid?"
   
Only slightly taken aback, I replied, "It was good. Why? How's your life as a kid?"
   
He then launched into a story about his mom and dad. "They fight all the time. They don't love each other anymore. They need their own houses, because they can't stay together. They don't even come inside, they just drop us off at the house because they don't want to see each other."
   
This is always a difficult task as a teacher. I have to find the right thing to say without making it into a super emotional moment. Since Alex delivered this news matter-of-factly, I kept my response simple. "Wow... I'm sure that's not easy on you and your brother. But sometimes if people don't get along, it's better for them to be apart until they can work things out. It sounds like you and your brother are doing a good job of dealing with it, and right now that's all you can do."
   
He nodded sagely. "Yeah. Now I just have to live life. It's hard to live life." 
   
(student names have been changed)

Wanderlust.

I was driving to work this morning, and the highway was crowded and way more traffic-y than usual. I wanted to just take the nearest exit and make a break for it. It was way too nice of a day to be at work. The humidity had dropped, the sky was an absolutely gorgeous blue dotted with fluffy white clouds... it was the perfect day to play hooky and run for the beach (or pool or something similar). Unfortunately, with my summer job I only get paid if I show up. Such is life. Anyway, I was digging through my glove compartment looking for some tunes, and I found one of my old mix CDs called "Road Trip." Well, of course I had to pop it in :)
  

I made this CD about 10 years ago... but I gotta say, most of the music still holds up for me. Not every song is about driving and road trips. For some songs, it was more about the feel of the music. Does it make me want to roll down the windows and crank up the volume while I cruise the highway? Then it works for me. 
  
Here's a tracklist of the CD, with links to the youtube videos for reference... in case you don't know a song. I'd love to remake this (some of the songs are poor quality, and there are one or two I want to drop), so if you can think of something to add, feel free to make a suggestion!

1. Drive (R.E.M.) - This one stays. For obvious reasons.
2. Learning to Fly (Pink Floyd) - I've always felt like this was a perfect song for just taking off on a spur of the moment trip. 
3. Jane Says (Jane's Addiction) - This one has nothing to do with driving. Or road trips. There's just something about the song that feels like it belongs here. 
4. Walk This World (Heather Nova) - I adore this song. And it fits in with the theme. A definite keeper.
5. Low (Cracker) - Much like #3, this is not about driving, but it still works. 
6. Tempted (Squeeze) - A definite road trip staple. (And this scene from "Reality Bites" makes it even more perfect!)
7. One Headlight (Wallflowers) - Not only do they sing about driving, but there's a steady, driving beat to this song that makes it perfect for this CD. (Bonus... Jakob Dylan is HOT.)
8. Take a Picture (Filter) - This one is all about the beat. It's a keeper. 
9. Something About You (Level 42) - Another one I chose for the feel. This is a personal favorite of mine and reminds me of someone I used to go road-tripping with.
10. Everlong (Foo Fighters) - Okay, so I guess there's an entire block of songs that I just chose for the feel of the music. This one is another keeper. It makes me wanna hit the gas pedal and fly. 
11. Where the Streets Have No Name (U2) - Self explanatory. It's all about the journey, baby.
12. One (Creed) - I have no idea why. It's definitely getting cut.
13. Machinehead (Bush) - I don't know what this song is about. But it's got the right sound for driving fast, so it's a keeper. Plus there's fast driving in the video :)
14. Are You Gonna Go My Way (Lenny Kravitz) - I really want to like this song on here. But everytime I listen to the CD, I hit the skip button. I don't know why. I think it might get cut.
15. Rearviewmirror (Pearl Jam) - Yes. Hell yes. This is such a kickass song. Vrooooooom.
16. Babylon (David Gray) - Another song that fits with the theme... but I just don't find myself loving it like I used to. It might get cut. Maybe.

So that's the CD. Like I said, I want to revamp it a little... maybe move a few songs around, cut the ones that don't work for me, and add a few new ones. I'm very open to song suggestions. The comments are open... go use them!

Beeeeeeach. (Shhh...it's a secret.)

I have a secret beach. I refuse to reveal the name, but if you figure it out, more power to you. Just keep it to yourself, please. 
   
I discovered this beach last summer when I was looking for a quiet place to go for a solo vacation. A co-worker recommended this place... it's a quiet little beach town, about 1 hour from me. No commercial boardwalk, no rides or waterparks, no tram cars or fudgie wudgie carts. Now don't get me wrong. I used to love the Wildwood scene. When we were kids, my parents would take me and Doug there for vacation. We loved the lights and the funnel cake and the Mac's pizza and the arcades. And then (many years later), it was a great place to go with friends... cram into one crappy little motel room and drink all night. Followed by a $3 boardwalk breakfast, of course :) 
  
So back to my secret beach. After my vacation last year, I decided that this beach was THE perfect place for a day trip. It's a pay beach, but it's worth the $8. Especially since it's a 1 hour drive and it's nowhere near the traffic of the other beaches. Last Friday the weather was incredible. I NEEDED the beach. It called to me. So I went for the day. And it was perfect. I took Joe with me, but I told him that if he told anyone where it is, I'd have to kill him. So far, he hasn't talked. :) Well, words don't do it justice... I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
  

   

   

   

   

   
It's a beautiful place. I think I'll need to go again. And soon. Like maybe this Friday ;-)

Summertime!

I neglected my blog for awhile... for various reasons, I guess. To sum up, I got in sort of a funk (regarding the possibility of a layoff, among other things) and then pulled myself out of it. I spent the first 2 weeks in June doing the usual end-of-year activities at my schools (wrapping up some loose ends, helping teachers with June exams, attending a variety of luncheons and retirement parties). The week after school ended, I went to a 4 day professional development workshop... and then the week after that, I started teaching a 5 week summer school program. So I haven't actually had a summer vacation yet :)
   
My summer school schedule is pretty sweet. I work Monday-Thursday from 9 AM - 12 PM. I have Fridays off. Not too shabby! Even though I haven't had a summer vacation, I've definitely been enjoying my extra free time. One thing I've been able to do is take in some shows at our local theaters. 
   
At the end of June, I went with a group of friends to see "Next to Normal" at the Academy of Music...
   

The Academy of Music

    

   
I wasn't very familiar with the show before I saw it, but I enjoyed it very much. It was funny and touching all at the same time, and the music was catchy and well written. I found myself still humming the songs a week after I saw it. I'd like to get my hands on the soundtrack soon.
   
This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to get FREE tickets to see "Miss Saigon" at the Walnut Street Theater...
  

   

Dorky pose with a theater poster!

   

  
This is a show I've wanted to see for years, so I was thrilled to get a chance to go! My friend gave me 2 tickets, so I asked Joe if he wanted to go with me (and of course he did... who turns down free theater tickets??). I was so excited for the show that I spent the days beforehand posting videos of the songs on Facebook. Our seats were great, the show was awesome, and a good time was had by all. 
   
Hopefully over the next month and a half, I'll have more fun outings to share with you... because I intend to make the most of my time off this summer!  

Summer School Stories, part I

When I was a classroom teacher, I found myself grabbing for scrap paper every time one of my first graders said something funny. It happened so often that I finally started carrying a notebook to record the things they said. Teaching summer school reminds me how much I miss interacting with kids on a daily basis. After the first day, I started keeping paper nearby to write down what some of my boys say. 
   
A quick background: I have a combined kindergarten-1st grade class. So far I have 5 students total, all boys. I have 7 on my roster, but 3 never showed up, and then 1 who wasn't on the original list started at the end of the second week. It's like a complicated math problem.
  
So for the next 3 weeks I'll be occasionally blogging about some of the things my boys say... starting with my notes from the last 2 weeks :)
  
Each week has a theme for reading... the theme for week 2 was "Pets." As part of a writing activity, one of my kindergarteners wrote the following:
  
"My pet ets pnus."
  
Translation: "My pet eats peanuts." But that's definitely NOT what it looks like. Time to work on stretching a word to hear ALLLL the sounds! :)
    
Also in week 2... we had a discussion about pets, where we went around the table and told about a pet we have. If a student didn't have a pet, he told what pet he would like to have. I got to the last child, who said, "I have 2 rats under my bed." 
   
"Are they your pets?" I asked.
   
"No."
   
"Where did they come from?" (And I kinda didn't want to know the answer...)
   
"Oh, because we eat upstairs in the bedroom." 
   
I really, really hope that was just a story he made up.