The Intimidation Factor

Thank you LeBron for ending the agony of wait. Stupid..........

Summer is coming to a screeching halt for the DC area. Students and teachers alike are preparing for the big comeback on August 2nd. Some people in other professions have strong opinions about teachers and our complaints about salaries and time off. My thoughts on these opinions (put nicely) are #1. Give it a try it and see how much recovery time you need. #2. Even though it seems like we work from 8-3 during school, trust me, that is NOT the case. Some days I will come home and grade papers until midnight. That's not including Homecoming week where I only get close to 7 hours of sleep in 5 days. (Why do I do this again? Oh yeah. That's right. B/c I pretty much love it.) Most people work hard regardless of their profession, but I feel like I have to defend mine sometimes due to the negative connotation surrounding the large amount of vacation time. Teachers will be returning a full week earlier for in-service. I had no clue what in-service actually was as a student. I've come to realize I really don't know now, as a teacher what it is. J/k. Sort of. Truth be told, I actually enjoy working with students way more than adults. (Sidenote: I LOVE my teaching family. Kids are just easier for me to deal with. Hence why I'm a teacher.) Because I have been a Peggy Procrastinator ALL summer I will be working round the clock next week getting my classroom and curriculum ready. I am usually really on top of things as far as my curriculum is concerned. I have been trying to figure out why that has NOT been the case with English 3. I have come to the conclusion that it is because I am SO intimidated by these standards and curriculum. I'm teaching Gatsby and persuasive writing for goodness sake! 11th grade is my dream job. I just didn't think I would have it year 3 of teaching. Fear of failure is a huge issue for me, and this class is highlighting that fact. Whine much? Apparently. Looking forward to the challenges to come though.

The business of people pleasing

4th of July weekend was a nice time with good people. I spent today working around the house. Mainly figuring out how to make my yard look a little less white trash. Mirrors, picture frames, and other wall decor items were hung with not that many holes this time. I did all of the hard work today with the help of the fam and some pretty sweet ladies.

Side note: I'm having another one of those good, good talks. Main topic: people pleasing. I have this BFF, E., who quite possibly could be a poster child for people pleasers. Once upon a time, I think I also could have fallen into this category. Not to get too deep b/c I don't consider my blog to be a forum for life lessons but here it goes: Over the past 6 months I have made a conscious effort to NOT be this way. Before this dramatic change I did anything to make sure people were happy with me (including make myself unhappy.) Friends, family, co-workers, pretty much anyone (excluding students) is included in what was my strong desire to make people happy. When I say "make people happy" I mean mostly emotional things. And nothing serious just small things that eventually add up. In most cases, this is completely okay, but this is also an excellent way to allow yourself to be taken advantage of. When it's close, best friends/people who sincerely care about you, it's totally okay to want to please them in normal, non-creepy ways. But then there are people who are not those things and it becomes just a cluster mess of a friendship/ relationship. No longer a fan of those. Not one bit. I now find myself in a place where I realize that those people who genuinely care, love, and appreciate me for the person I am. Those people don't need me to actually do anything to please them. They're friends or whatever with me because of who I am and that's just dandy. It's enough. Nothing expected and full understanding. I'm definitely a work in progress going on 25 years now, but you learn something new everyday I guess.

Competitiveness

Ok so clearly I am a sports fan. However, if I'm being completely honest, I am just a competitive person. I am "that girl" that just wants to win. That means win a soccer game OR beat my bro's time driving to FL. I just like to win, even when I'm the only one competing. Because of this trait of mine, I can watch pretty much any sporting event. I.E. I most definitely did not follow the entire NBA season, but when it was crunch time in the Finals, I was most certainly watching. I also watch Sportscenter every night pre-sleep for 2 reasons. 1) Just to stay informed about the sports world even when I don't have time to watch all the happenings as they're happening. 2) It's my secret dream job to be a Sportscenter anchor. In the past, I would actually pretend to complain to D about watching Sportscenter EVERY single night over and over when really I liked it just as much as he did. Speaking of sports, Boston lost last night. Boo. It was an awesome series though, so I won't complain. I will however complain about the fact that it's re-donkulous to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. No sir. He hasn't even began to leave that sort of legacy. Stop the madness. I also have been watching The US Open because I am a Phil Mickelson fan. My main point to my unnecessary babbling brings me to World Cup action. The US did in fact tie Slovenia this morning. We played wretched the first half, but made up for it, for the most part, in the second half. It was probably a bad idea to watch this match with my nieces and nephew because slurs were flying from my mouth due to the absolutely ridiculous officiating that took place throughout the game. As my mother would say: " I have never in my life!" But really. It was awful. We do have a tendency to choke in World Cup play, but hopefully this year is our year to turn it around and we will pull out a win on Wednesday against Algeria.

Attending a US World Cup match is definitely on my list of things to do before I die. Being surrounded by that patriotism and sense of pride for your team and country would be stellar. I love american sports, but international sporting events just bring something new to the table entirely. All of this being said, male professional athletes are also serious eye candy (hence the picture above taken for a Vanity Fair shoot.)

My Oh My.

Alright, so let's just say that my vacay did NOT get off to a good start. First of all, I ran around crazy all last week trying to get junk settled to leave for 2 whole weeks. That's a hard task to do now that I'm responsible for a house. Not to mention, I needed to celebrate my birthday, my mom's birthday, and Father's Day (lame) before I left. My birthday was Friday, and of course, my friends (KP, Fal, and Tabs) provided the upmost of entertainment. What seemed like it was going to be just another night in Nashville quickly was not. Saturday I ran around crazy until my birthday/mom's birthday/Father's Day dinner at the Mom's. She made chocolate gravy. Don't. Even. Get. Me. Started. There was then another impromptu trip to Nashville, which turned out way better then I really wanted it to. Made it home around 5 a.m. and was at the niece's house (Jordo) at 8:30 a.m. to leave for Rosemary Beach. On the way out of DC: bluelights. Speeding ticket for 15 mph over ONLY because he caught me right where it switches from 55 to 45. Stupid. He also got frustrated with me for trying to hold his clipboard. Really? 7 hours later: Jordo and I roll up to The Lazy Parrot (the name of our house.) I will be spending 2 weeks here with the nieces ( Jordo, Amb, and Clarah) the nephew, Jackson and my bro and sister-in-law. We went to bed early, so we would be rested and ready to head to the beach Monday morning. Monday was also my Mom's birthday, so we got up and sang a speakerphone seven person rendition of the Birthday Song to her. After our little ditty, my mother then informs us that she has been in the ER all night with my grandmother. My Nurse BFF, Pugh, stayed in the ER with my family and is again proof that I have the absolute best friends in the entire flippin' world. I have been stressed to the tee and worried senseless because I haven't been at home with my Maw. Yesterday was a waiting game for whether or not I needed to leave. The best case scenario for what was wrong has been determined, so I do feel a tinsy winsy bit better. If anything goes wrong, I will obviously be hitting HWY 331 like it's nobody's business. Oh, you think I'm finished, but I'm not. Apparently I have this really cool re-occuring condition called Cellulitis that breaks out on my ear that is stress related. Guess what has decided to pay me a visit? Crappy, crappy, crappy. Thank goodness I have a pretty sweet doc back home who can just call me in a script for antibiotics and painkillers. It hurts real bad. On the bright side (I'm glad Cr made it safely through Bonaroo,) I am on a beautiful beach with a fantastic family. I talked to my grandmother this afternoon, and she sounded well, and she isn't in any pain. It can only go up from here.

Sidenote: I am super pumped about World Cup play. I am shocked that we tied England, and I can't wait to see what happens! Tim Howard is BA! USA! USA!

Steal some cover. Share some skin.

I have had a very blessed last couple of days. I was able to combine old friends, new friends, and the fam with some redneck fun in the boondocks. We embarked on the Bad Ass Wheel Weekend on the Duck River in small town U.S.A. Friday and Saturday. We floated for 5 HOURS! Yes I complained, yes I was whiney. 5 hours was a little much for me, but I had an absolute blasty blast. KP and Fal had a bit more fun that I did, but someone has to be the responsible one I guess ;) J/k. They were only one step ahead of me. Fal lost all of her possessions, and bathroom juice might be her enemy. KP's camera has permanent water damage. Bonfires, cornhole, and four-wheelers set off a pretty kick A weekend. KP, Fal, and I also pretty much met the ying to our yang: Ms. Niki Noodle. We were also introduced to the sweetest 7 year old Puerto Rican beat boxer and his parentals. Our hostesses worked so hard, and it was greatly appreciated and enjoyed. I will add pictures on later posts.

Another pretty sweet happening in the days of my life happened Wednesday morning. I got on one of my "teacher cheap" websites. Normally STAR magazine (absolute "smut" as Candy would call it, but I can't help but love and relish in it. Plus, it reminds me of the good ole days in room 114) runs $79 for 52 issues in a year. Instead I paid $7.99 for 52 issues in a year! Thank you www.tanga.com! Preciate it.

Also this evening, I have a shout out to the people of Dish Network: I dislike you so much. Your technical representatives make me want to punch myself in the face. Thank you for the wasted 45 minutes of my life.

A second shout out: "Imma tell you one time" Justin Bieber. You know what? I'm not even ashamed. No, I'm not creepy. I'm just sayin'. The kid is absolutely adorable, he has perfect hair, AND he sounds the exact same on the radio as he does live. Gotta respect that. PLUS, he's actually hysterically funny. Example: Watch this. So basically, yes, I have Beiber Fever. Dont' judge me.