my friends are awesome :)

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Australia. Since I'll be gone for three weeks, I decided to plan a semi-impromptu night out at the bar for last night. I emailed the gang and we all met at Ashburner's for food, drinks and kick-ass music. It was the most fun I've had at a bar in a long time. First of all, EVERYONE was there! Sam, Karen, MK, Rich, Heather, Michael, Tim, Inara, Steph, and Dooner all came to hang out. And two of Tim's friends showed up later. The only people missing were Mike and Erin (understandably), but Erin called and sent texts and Mike sent me adorable phone pics of Henry and Leo. So they were there in spirit.

The Ashburner was Rich's suggestion, and it turned out to be a great one. There was no cover and the drinks were dirt cheap ($2 bottles of Coors Light during the Phils game!). The crowd was pretty decent, the DJ rocked and there was plenty of room for everyone to hang out and even dance. I definitely wanna go back there again.

I can't quite put my finger on what it was that made the night so awesome. It just seemed like everyone was in a great mood and having a great time. Inappropriate text messages were flying, drinks were flowing, and everyone was laughing. It felt like one of those nights where everything worked out perfectly.

Props to Sam and Dooner for buying me beers (even though one got punched when an attempt to hug me went horribly awry), to Heather for sharing her pizza and to Miguel for suggesting a movie (that I promise I'll watch when I get back!). Oh, what the hell... Props to everyone who showed up. You guys rock!

smack down!

Last night I went to karaoke at the Roadhouse (dive bar!) with Karen, Rich, Heather, James, Gabby and Sarah. I had planned to post about the bar experience, but Karen beat me to it. It was complete soap opera-esque drama, but it made karaoke night a million times more enjoyable than it should have been. For those of you who don't read Karen's blog, here's a very long story in condensed form:

Rich's friend James is dating/hooking up with a girl named Gabby. A guy at the bar saw Rich and introduced himself as Justin, and asked if Gabby was coming. We asked if he knew Gabby and he said he'd been dating her for over a year. Oh SHIT. James and Gabby show up, Justin drags Gabby off for long drawn-out conversations, Justin confronts James, security gets involved, drama ensues. But no fight, much to my dismay. Justin gets up to sing and dedicates the song to Gabby... "Shameless," by Garth Brooks. Classic. Is it wrong that I totally enjoyed every minute of the drama? Openly? Karen and I didn't even bother to conceal our glee when the heated arguments took place right in front of us.

Anyway, aside from that drama, karaoke night was uneventful.

I've been going to Chestnut Hill College for teacher workshops all week, but today I decided to play hooky. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I couldn't bear the thought of dealing with turnpike traffic on 3 hours of sleep. Of course, I was halfway through my shower when I came to that conclusion. So I finished my shower, put my pajamas back on, and got back in bed. And slept for four more hours. It was glorious.

Today wound up being a nice relaxing day. I met Karen and Sam for coffee at Starbucks, where we discussed men (they suck) and plans for an upcoming party. Then I FINALLY got to Target to do some trip shopping. Let me just confess something now, so I can get it off my chest: I am a Target-oholic. If such a thing exists. I went in with a list, but wound up buying several things that I didn't need. For example, "Hope Floats" on DVD for $5.50. It called my name. Harry Connick, Jr. in tight jeans for under $6? The price is right, baby.

I also wandered into the book aisle. Big, big mistake. Books are like candy to me. I'm addicted. I have a pile of books upstairs that I still haven't read. At least fifteen of them. And I felt the need to buy five more. Sigh. I'm also a book-oholic.

And speaking of books, Erin (and Mike and Henry) stopped by yesterday to drop off a book for me to borrow. It was Tasha's first encounter with a baby, and she was extremely confused by Henry. She spent several minutes dancing around the sofa, trying to get a better look at him, sniffing his car seat and diaper bag, and cocking her head in his direction every time he made a cute little noise. I think she was looking for Leo... and clearly, Henry wasn't an acceptable substitute.

Okay, gotta go get my laundry.

yikes

I think it finally hit me that I'm leaving for Australia on Sunday. And that I'll be gone for 3 weeks. And that I'll be taking approximately 10 plane rides during the course of the trip.

Ummm... is it too late to back out of this??

Okay. I can handle the whole traveling-to-another-country thing. Been there, done that. Well, when I say "been there," I'm not referring specifically to Australia. I've been to Europe, which isn't quite as far, but it's the same concept. And the length of the trip doesn't bother me too much. When I went to Europe I was there for 2 1/2 weeks. So it's pretty much the same thing.

So maybe it's the plane rides that freak me out. I'm okay once I'm actually on the plane. It's the anticipation of the ride that gets me spazzy. And the take-off. And the turbulance. And the ear-popping (note to self: buy gum). And the fact that it's a very large, heavy piece of machinery that somehow defies the laws of gravity and stays suspended in the air for 8 hours at a time. And the fact that I've seen "Lost" one too many times, and unless Matthew Fox is on the plane with me, I'm not gonna enjoy an emergency landing on a deserted island.

Okay. I'm going to look at this as an adventure. Not many people get to do this kinda thing. It will look amazing on a resume. I will take a shit-load of amazing pictures, which will then be immortalized in a scrapbook that I'm going to force everyone to look at. I'll be fine.

Now I just need to pack. And figure out how many books to bring with me.

Fire Island

Fire Island. I promised a blog, so here it is.

First, some background info on Fire Island itself. It's a barrier island off of Long Island. It requires a 3-4 hour car ride to NY (depending on traffic), followed by a 30 minute ferry ride. No cars allowed on the island - only emergency vehicles. Which means that people either walk or bike everywhere, and they use hand-pulled wagons to transport things.

The island is bordered by the bay on one side and the ocean on the other side. My friend's family has a house in Ocean Bay Park, which is on the bay side. In fact, their backyard is a small boardwalk/dock which leads directly into the bay. It's a five minute walk from the house to the other side of the island, which is the beach. The beach is always clean and never crowded... and there's no boardwalk or stores or anything commercial like that.

Usually, I drive to FI with Becky (she lived with me and Bonnie in college). But this year, she's going out there another weekend with her boyfriend. So I asked Sam if she wanted to go with me. Lo and behold, she made it back alive! And relatively uncorrupted!

Upon our arrival on Friday night, we were greeted by Bonnie (my friend and former college roommate) at the ferry dock. At the house we found Denise (Bonnie's friend) and Mitch (Bonnie's husband). That night, we mostly hung around the house and relaxed. We had a few drinks (Sam introduced NY to the Apple Pie Shot!) and had some bbq. Later that night, we went out to a few local bars (and when I saw local, I mean you walk down the street and you're there). No one in FI dresses up for anything. It's a lot of shorts and flip flops. Very beachy and casual, which is kind of nice.

On Saturday, we hit the beach. The weather was exquisite. Blue sky, warm sun, the occasional breeze. We set up our chairs and blankets and spent about 4 hours being lazy. We met up with Jordan (Bonnie's friend) and his boyfriend Nick, who entertained us with some gymnastics on the beach. Back to the house for showers, naps, and more Apple Pie Shots, and then we were off to Cherry Grove!

A sidenote: many people think Fire Island is a predominantly gay hangout. Only two towns in FI are known as "gay towns." (Not that there aren't gay people in the other towns...) Anyway, Cherry Grove is one of the towns known for its gay bars and entertainment. It's a bit too far to walk, so we took a water taxi (which is exactly what it sounds like) to Cherry Grove for dinner and dancing. We were a rather large party of 13 (having been joined by Bonnie's best friend Michael, his boyfriend Brad, Michael's brother Keith, Keith's wife Michelle, and two other friends of theirs named Rich and Laurie), but Bonnie had made dinner reservations a week in advance. As it turns out, the restaurant was not equipped to handle such a large party, and after two hours we still didn't have our meal. So after much drama, tears and complaining, we paid for our drinks and appetizers and went for pizza.

We spent the rest of Saturday night bar-hopping, dancing, taking a bunch of really funny pictures, watching Nick do his drunken imitation of Super Mario... good times, good times.

We woke early on Sunday, due to a certain text message from Mike (yay!). Then we had breakfast on the back porch, watching the boats drift by on the bay. After breakfast, we packed up and caught an early afternoon ferry back to the mainland. The car ride home didn't take as long as the drive there... plus we had a nice distraction: Erin called with the story of Henry's birth, and then Mike sent pics via text message. We stopped at Starbucks for some refreshment, and made it home just in time for dinner.

All in all, a fabulous weekend. I got to see some old friends and meet some great new people... I got some color and I had a chance to relax. I can't wait to go back!

Can't sleep... clowns'll eat me...

I just got home from Karen's place, where I was hanging out with Karen, Joe, Dooner and Jeanette. We were drinking and playing Wii, which I thought I would hate... but I do not. I am addicted to tennis and I kicked Joe's ass in bowling. Wii is very good indeed. I need more Wii.

Anyway, now I can't sleep. I already uploaded the few pics that I took tonight and I put on a "Friends" DVD for background noise. I had several glasses of Coke (with Stoli Vanilla) at Karen's and the caffeine and sugar combined are making me kinda shaky. Plus I'm anxious about tomorrow. I have a job interview tomorrow. Actually, it's the first step in a three step process for a school district. I know I'm a good teacher... and I know I have an impressive resume and an equally impressive portfolio... and I know that I have good people skills and have no trouble talking during interviews... and I know that I'm more than qualified for this job. But I still can't help being entirely freaked out by the whole thing. I haven't been on a job interview in about 6 years. I do all my worrying beforehand. Once I'm in there, I'll be on auto-pilot, and I'll do fine. I just need to get through tonight and tomorrow morning's drive.

Cross some fingers and toes for me. I'll let you know how it goes.

everything hits at once

The past week has been crazy. To sum up last week: work, work, work, finishing grades, writing report cards, making an awards list, cleaning up the entire classroom, shoving as much as I could into closets. Friday was our last day, and while it was short (two hours), it was emotionally draining. It was the last day for our principal, our third grade teacher and our fifth grade teacher. So the entire week was pure chaos.

After school on Friday, the faculty went to breakfast (an annual tradition). And from there, I picked up Sam and we headed to New York for the weekend. That's a blog for later. I promise I'll get to it.

On Sunday morning (Father's Day), I got a text from Mike at 7 AM saying that Erin was in labor. I didn't expect to hear anything from them until later in the afternoon, but he texted back two hours later to say that Henry Michael was born at 8:38 AM. Probably the shortest labor in history. He came two weeks early, so no one was really expecting it.

When I came home from NY, I found out that my uncle (and godfather) had passed away on Saturday night. He had been sick with throat cancer and receiving treatment, but he developed bronchitis and had complications from that... anyway, it happened pretty quickly, and it's still kind of a shock.

Today I went to visit Erin, Mike and Henry in the hospital. Everyone is well and the baby is absolutely adorable. Of course. It's still so weird to think of Erin and Mike as parents, but they're already pros. Mike's got swaddling down to a science. Henry looked like a little baby burrito.

And then about half an hour ago, I got a phone call from a school district that I had applied to months ago. I had thought it was a lost cause, since I hadn't heard anything from them. Now they want to set up an interview for this week. Yikes! I'm nowhere near ready for that. I need to get my portfolio together and find interview clothes and brush up on my interview skills... it's kind of overwhelming right now. But wish me luck. As much as I love my current place of employment, I really need to find a job that pays more money.

I leave for Australia in less than two weeks. I have about 12 days to get ready (physically and mentally). Holy shit.

And that's what's been going on.

later, gator

Leaving for the weekend. Don't miss me too much. :-)

THREE DAYS LEFT!

Here's a quick weekend recap for you. It was a busy one... Friday night was the graduation dance. Saturday morning I had to take a 2-hour test for my Reading Specialist certification (which was HARD). On Saturday night, I went to the Blarney with Sam, Heather and MK. I was exhausted by midnight (I was up pretty early for the test), so we didn't stay too late. But the ride home was hysterical. Drunk Heather decided to rave in the backseat of my car. It was an elaborate process involving invisible glow sticks and rap.

Sunday was 8th grade graduation. It was cute. The kids had their caps and gowns (we didn't have caps at my 8th grade graduation...) and after the ceremony, they ran around hugging each other and crying. Well, the girls did. The boys just made jokes and looked uncomfortable with the attention. Bride-zilla was at the ceremony (she used to teach second grade at our school, and this year's graduating class was the first class that she taught), so afterwards we went to lunch at Freddy and Tony's, a fabulous Puerto Rican restaurant. I had pastelillos de carne and arroz guisado y habichuelas, and I split a plate of tostones with her. YUM.

And then it was back to work. I hate the end of the school year. I mean, I like that summer is coming, but I hate the stress of the end-of-the-year checklist. This week, I have to do the following:

• grade 4 different sets of exams
• average 3rd trimester grades and final grades
• put the grades in the gradebook, on the report cards, and on the permanent record cards
• clean my entire classroom
• pack up anything laying around the room and store as much as I can in the closets
• make an honors list and an awards list
• put together each child's permanent portfolio
• come up with a game for Spirit Day
• put together the kids' end-of-the-year gift (bubbles and some candy in a little gift bag)

It wouldn't be so bad if I had the classroom to myself... but I've got the kids from 8-12 every morning. Three more days, and it's all over. Until September. Well, August, really... cuz that's when we go back to set up.

Okay... that was a long enough break. Back to my checklist.

go white girl! it's your birthday!

Last night I chaperoned the 8th grade graduation dance at our school. It was amusing, to say the least. Very different from my own 8th grade dance. The boys were all dressed in very long denim shorts with either a baggy polo shirt or a baggy button down shirt. A few were even in baseball caps. About three or four of the girls had a dress on, but the rest were in capris or jeans. They spent the first hour of the dance running around taking pictures of each other... and then the dancing started. I consider myself to be a very hip and with-it teacher, but I knew very few of the songs that the DJ played. To be fair, half of them were in Spanish... and I did know two of those (one by Marc Anthony, and "Lo Que Paso Paso," by Daddy Yankee).

Anyway... these kids can DANCE. My body was not made to move like that. These girls aren't built like any 8th graders I went to school with. They're all booty and boobs, lol. And most of the dancing they did required them to shake both. After socializing with the other teacher chaperones, I headed to the dance floor, along with three other teachers (2nd grade, pre-k and 8th grade) to bust a move, white-girl stlye. I learned how to dance to "Pop Lock and Drop It" and practiced my salsa and merengue (both of which leave much to be desired). Good times, good times. But Lord, I felt old.

Funny story from the beginning of the dance: I was hanging with the other teachers and the DJ played Ciara's song, "Like a Boy." I started singing along, and one of the 8th grade girls saw me. She whispered to another girl and they both looked at me and smiled. I went over and asked what was going on. One girl said, "I just told her, 'Look at Miss M, she knows the song!'" I laughed and told them it's on my myspace profile. The looks on their faces were priceless... teachers with myspace?! Preposterous!

Anyway, last night's dance got me to thinking about good party songs. Last time I asked for top ten desert island CDs, but it was pointed out that some people don't listen to whole CDs anymore. I know I don't. So this time, I'm going to ask for songs... top five party songs. Songs that get you in the mood to party, songs that make you get up at dance at a party... whatever gets your groove on. Do share.

not a post about drinking

Just a bit of randomness from me.

I have 8 days of school left. And then it's SUMMER VACATION!!! One of the ultimate perks of teaching. I'm actually not working this summer. This is the first time in about 6 years that I haven't worked or taken a class over the summer. The freedom will be nice.

The trip to Australia is getting closer. I'm nowhere near ready. I started making a packing list tonight. The most difficult decision is how many books to bring. And which ones. We'll be doing a lot of flying, and reading is a good way to pass the time. We come back the day after the new Harry Potter is released. I'm hoping it'll be on sale at the airport, so I can buy it before I leave and read it on the flight home.

I've been thinking about music lately. I wanted to go see the 40th anniversary tribute to Sgt. Pepper at the WCL tomorrow, but it's sold out. Well, it's actually free, so it's rsvp-ed out. Damnit. That pisses me off. Anyway, Ike is playing soon, and I wanna go see them, so if you're going (or if you wanna go), drop me a line. I need a music fix. One of my friends and co-workers has tickets to see Pink Martini this month and she asked me to go with her. I borrowed all 3 of their CDs from her and I'm hooked. Go check them out. They're way cool. And of course, Heather and I have tickets to see The Fray and OK Go at the end of the month. Wooo-hoooo!!!

Speaking of music, I was listening to my mp3 player on the way home today and I got to thinking about an article that our college newspaper once ran. They asked readers to send their list of top ten CDs that they would want with them if they were stranded on a deserted island. I sent mine in and it got printed... but I can only remember some of the CDs that I listed. I'm going to post them here soon, but first I wanted to pose the question to you, dear readers... which CDs would make your top ten?

phooey on my stomach

Went to a totally impromptu gathering at Karen's tonight. My stomach had been feeling slightly queasy most of the day, but I chalked it up to the stress of my week (recovery from my party, work, work, work, Australia chaperone meeting, work, work, shopping, getting together scrapbook and gift for principal's farewell party), which was capped off by the extreme stress of yesterday (principal's going away party, which was both fun and emotional), mixed with the ridiculous humidity we've had for the past few days and the random amount of snacky foods I ate yesterday at said party (all sorts of creamy dips, chips, hot dogs, beer - a combination of foods that my delicate stomach is not used to). But after dinner and a shower, I felt pretty good and was ready to go drink at Karen's. Or so I thought.

I had downed two beers and one shot that was watered down with ginger ale, when my stomach began to hurt again. I was pretty much non-responsive and half-comatose for a good three hours of the night. I toyed with the idea of going home, but I didn't feel like getting up or driving. So I sat there looking pathetic while everyone else got buzzed and had a good time. Karen found me some Saltines and Joe poured me a very flat ginger ale... and after awhile, I began to get my strength back. Which is when I decided that I absolutely needed a shot. I had two shots of Jack Daniels (watered down with Coke) and then felt much, much better. I managed to stay and hang until 2:45 AM.

After I felt better, I was able to enjoy some of the fun.... like having my tarot read by Karen (the tarot says I'm gonna have a long-term relationship with an honest man... but only after I have a wild, meaningless fling! Woo-hoo!!!), making Dooner a Saltine and grape sandwich, and watching Karen's neighbor do apple pie shots for the first time. There was good music (George Michael, A-ha, Herbie Hancock and a little "Wild Rover"), good snacky food (even though I mostly ate Saltines) and good company. And of course, good pics. They'll go up tomorrow. I can't be bothered with that shit now.

Anyway, it's just after 3 AM and I'm wide awake. I must've gotten a second wind somewhere after the JD shots. I think I'll get in bed and watch some of my "Will & Grace" DVD until I fall asleep. Thank God for a/c and no work tomorrow.