sweet desert

My vacation has provided little opportunity for blogging. Perhaps, we shall call it a vacation for my readers as well. But, the blogging famine was a feast of living.

My trip was full of goodness... God's grace and goodness to be precise. Friendship is such a humbling and beautiful gift. I got to spend time with three friends that have an intense impact on my life and soul. Their love and commitment is far beyond anything I deserve, and I get energized just being around their awesomeness. They are so alive in the truest and fullest way-- the God intended way. Their laughs tinkle. Their truth tingles with the slightest of sting. I sleep really well after spending time with them-- it's like a day at the beach.

I feel more relaxed and priortized. I feel... ready. Expectant. Hopeful. I've been a stress bunny all this year, but life isn't feeling so heavy right now. I'm more self aware now-- not in an bent-in way, but a how-am-I-impacting-the-people-I-love way. I feel open. Excited. Joyful. I am in a planning stage.

Several of my friends are in love. I found their healthy, happy relationships enjoyable and inspiring. Maybe it's feasible for me to find someone compatible?

I even got reinvigorated about reading the Bible. It's exciting again. I heard some intelligent, passionate preaching in Vancouver by two of my favorite pastors.

I'm benefitting from the recreate that comes in recreation. Fun and relaxation are powerful stuff.

I've been staying with a friend's seventh grader the past couple of days. I've had a blast but am exhausted. We checked out puppies and fedoras, ate Japanese, I cooked a "visually appealling" meal that night. Then we went to church, Wendy's, Discovery Place, played with blocks, watched Transformers on Imax, walked around uptown, ate ice cream for dinner. Today, we slept in, worked out at the Y: I ran, he swam, researched puppies at the library, ate huge salads, watched Inkheart, and I did some of the homework I'd planned on doing. And, I had a great conversation with my brother today about the LSAT, running, life and God.

Elrond and deer

I just got back from Rivendell on Bowen. I'm in one of my top five favorite libraries-- the downtown Vancouver one. It was odd to be on Retreat. It was a really hard retreat for some reason. But, I'll take it. Bowen was beautiful. I ran into some Regent people at Rivendell... of course. But, it was fun: we broke some vegetables together and were delightfully silly.

I read Schmidt's Praying Experiences and Peterson's Leap Over a Wall. I wandered the "town" and ate a beef enchilada with celery in it. I slept a lot. Whenever I go on retreat I sleep.

I have less than a week to go before I'm home. Sadness.

vancouver

I'm off to Stanley Park to meet C for a run. Then, we're going to meet up with M, and go to the Vermeer and Rembrandt exhibit at the VAG. This morning I rode a bike around the sea wall to Granville Island and did the gallery crawl up Granville. I had a delicious lunch. Tomorrow I head out to Bowen Island for a three-day retreat. My half marathon went surprisingly well. It reminded me of high school Cross Country-- low key and small. I'm having a great time!

summer time

The last day of school was welcome and ... anticlimatic. Fewer than half my homeroom showed up, and half of those checked out by the early dismissal. I enjoyed the day and my kids. We listened to tunes, cleaned and chatted. My principal dismissed teachers early too. I came home and took a nap.

Now, I'm at a coffee shop writing thank you notes to the many people I owe thanks to for this year. It's been humbling and awesome to pen the notes to my mentor, principal, custodians, secretaries, etc. I owe thank yous to my family and friends as well. I have learned and grown so much this year. If my students learned a tenth of what I have, they've had a fruitful year. My contract was not renewed due to budget constraints, but there is a strong likelihood it will. Now, I need to change gears to summer. I have goals to complete my two courses, plan my syllabi, write two features and possibly contribute to another blog. And read and run and relax.

tabernacle of tedium

One more day of school... woohoo!

But, on a tedious note, I'm taking two online courses to fulfill my lateral entry requirements. Of course, my contract hasn't been renewed due to the budget's uncertainty and my being a provisional teacher. But, if I don't do the coursework, then my contract will certainly not be renewed. Catch 22.

It's been awhile since I've done busy work; I have to make it fun. Hence, the title: The Tabernacle of Tedium... for my response to the hypothetical situation to play with Glasser's Choice Theory. Ms. Dyar's classroom management style is an anal yawn if you will. (Wow, anal yawn works two ways, but I'll keep it.)

I leave for Vancouver in less than 72 hours. Exciting! I should figure out how I'm getting from Seattle to Vancouver at 10pm.

My brain is very full and busy right now. Not that I'm ever linear.

baby sitting

I'm keeping my three crazy cousins (third, sixth and eigth graders) this weekend; it's their parents' anniversary. It's been fun: apples to apples, walk, free samples, window shopping for patio furniture, Up (in 3D), loitering in parking lot so that we could avoid the wrath of the people enduring the stress of my terrible parking job, trespassing, kittens (they're a foster family for cats), pizza and cartwheels. We're all ready to get out of school! They've been incredibly fun and easy. The only close to mishap was with the 8th grader's bf coming to meet us at the movies.

Lord of the Flies sequel

Yikes. William Golding must have taught 7th grade. Ye gawds, today was a nightmare. I had four students suspended. One for calling a girl, Moochelle among other things (speaking of Piggy). Of course, it snowballed with other kids getting involved and retaliating. One of my girls used the N-word. One of my boys punched another kid in the crotch. I am coming up with a tight seating arrangement for the next couple of days; I'm partly to blame for the chaos. Plus, I'd planned for a certain schedule that was changed by my teammate.

Yet, the day ended with a magnificent game of girls v boys kickball. The girls almost won, but had one too many errors.

My sister leaves for Paris tomorrow while I get deal with the middle school end of the year crazy. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

sweat shop

So, I was running a sweat shop today. Some students begged to stay in my room in lieu of watching Cheaper by the Dozen (can't say that I blame them). I gave them the condition that they'd have to work. And work they did. My room looks far more packed-- and they did fairly well working together. I even got my report cards finished while there were ten kids in my room. We decided to have the sweat shop all girls... and it ran far more smoothly. And, I paid each of my workers a bouncy ball. And, my workers had a good time; they couldn't believe it when the bell rang. Ha... I'm an awesome sweatshop hustler.