Robert Muraine - So You Think You Can Dance

It's true, I do love to watch reality television. My summer reality show is So You Think You Can Dance. The audition highlights just began last week and I am already developing favorites...this is bad considering that they may not have actually even made it on the show.

Laugh all you want at my obsession with the show, but check out this video before you judge me completely. Make sure you watch past the judge's comments, because there is another unbelieveable trick!

An Update

I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog as of late so I thought I'd just randomly write about things that have kept me busy or been on my mind.

School is beginning to wind down and the students are really restless (teachers -me- might be a bit restless too). I'm trying to get through A Raisin in the Sun with my juniors and my sophomores are turning their research papers in tomorrow...that leaves me with about five days to teach Julius Caesar (yikes!). Needless to say we will be summarizing large portions of the play and only focusing on the major speeches.

I basically have little to no summer that is not spoken for...I'm an idiot and agreed to teach summer school, so I'll finish on the 3rd of June and start back on the 9th. I will teach until the 3rd of July, have a few weeks off and then take a week-long course on teaching AP English classes (July 28-August 1). Teachers report to school on the 4th of August and we begin school on the 11th. So, for all those who make comments to me about being lucky to have the summer off...yeah...

I surprised my mother and one of my aunts with roses for Mother's Day...both were surprised and pleased. I meant to post about my wonderful mother around Mother's Day, but got busy and have yet to do that. It seems like I have spent a lot of time on my father...much credit/appreciation needs to be given to my amazing mother as well...I'll get to that soon! (I'm not into advertising for companies, but I ordered and sent the flowers through Proflowers and was very pleased.)

My Avery turned eight this past weekend. I can't believe how grown up she is becoming. Now that I have moved I don't get to see her as much as I'd like, but when I do, she always makes me feel like a rock star! She always takes time out from playing to sit on my lap and chat, gives me lots of hugs and smooches, and always wants me to sit with her at the table for cake/ice cream, etc. Avery is a huge part of my life (as is all my family) and contributes considerably to me being who I am.

I have a great friend who surprised me with a shipment of chocolate desserts from Williams-Sonoma because he had read my blog post about being a bit overwhelmed/stressed. Needless to say it was an amazing surprise and one that is greatly appreciated. I'm really a bit speechless as a result of his kindness and consideration.

I seriously need to get into the gym and a regular workout routine! (Even more so now that J. has sent me chocolate desserts!)

My friend Y lost her sister to cancer this past week. There are no words that can be said to ease the pain of such a loss, but I hope that Y and her family have been able to take some comfort in the fact that R is no longer suffering. These moments should really make us all stop and give thanks for the loved ones we are surrounded by each day. I can't even begin to imagine the heartache of losing my sister or my brother.

This is the first season that I have ever watched American Idol and I am finding myself obsessed with voting for David Cook tonight. That's actually a bit embarrassing to admit.

My department chair told me that the principal of our school made the comment to her (out of the blue) that she hoped she (the dept. chair) realized how lucky she was to have me in her department, that I was a real gem. I'm generally not one to 'toot my own horn', but that really made me feel good about what I am doing. I have the utmost respect for my head principal and in a building the size of the one that I am in, it is nice if the principal even knows me by name. The fact that she brought me up in conversation...wow! It is amazing that in teaching, one positive can wipe out hundreds of negatives!

I'm beginning to think about buying a house. It's not a decision I ever thought I would be making alone and it is really scary, but it is exciting too.

I'm in the process of applying to grad school...exciting and nerve racking as well. It's been a long time since I've written a paper to be graded!

Those are some of the highlights...there are a couple thousand other things as well, but I won't bore you any longer...for now.

Overwhelmed...

Does anyone else ever get to the point that you have sooo much to do that you don't even know where to begin, so instead you just sit idle, doing absolutely nothing?

You guessed it...that's where I am at the moment.

Random Facts

I have seen something similar on a couple of the blogs I enjoy reading and have now received this in an email, so I just decided to put this here.

Please feel free to comment and share your list with me.

Six Random Things About Me

1. The most used ring tones on my phone right now are: Teacher, Teacher (.38 Special) is for all incoming calls (unless the individual is special enough to have his/her own), Broken (LifeHouse) is for text messages, and Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond) is my morning alarm.

2. Although I am a certified secondary English teacher, my undergraduate degree is in Behavioral Sciences.

3. I grew up in a town of 283 people and graduated from a class of 46 students.

4. When my mother went into labor with my brother, my grandmother asked me what I wanted her to have, a little brother or sister. My response was that I wanted a little black sister. Needless to say, I was disappointed...but, my little (big) brother hasn't turned out too shabby.

5. Australia is the most amazing place I have traveled to thus far, and I plan to live there for an extended amount of time, someday.

6. I have had the same best friends for 30 plus years. They (twins) are about two weeks older than me and we were next door neighbors growing up.

How many times can you let someone you love break your heart?

When that person is your father, there is no magical number.

My siblings and I recently found out (not by our father, mind you) that the woman he cheated on my mother with and who has been living with him since before my parents' divorce has moved out. I can't say that we are upset about this development, but we don't want to see our father hurt either. Well, that is our truth...

My sister called me a couple nights ago to discuss some things that had been shared with her by one of my aunts. It seems that my dad had stopped by my aunt's house for one reason or another and had a bit of a break down. He told her that P. had moved out and how upset he was about it. After discussing things for a while he went on to say that he blamed us kids for the demise of his relationship. As the relationship between my father and my aunt has also become strained since the divorce of my parents, she didn't say much, only listened. She did however call my sister to tell her what my father had said and say that we really needed to talk to him.

When P. left, she told our father that the reason she was leaving was because his kids had never given her a chance and that she had never felt welcome. Wow. Excuse me for not rolling out the red carpet for a woman who so blatantly disrespected my mother, us kids, my family, and my parents' marriage vows.

Now, while I will not pretend that we ever cared for the woman, I can honestly say that we never showed her any disrespect. We were cordial, friendly and respectful every time we were around her. I bought Christmas gifts and sent cards to her and my father, and my brother went as far as buying gifts for her children. Oddly enough, I don't remember once being invited to the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners she hosted at our family farm. I do, however, remember having to schedule around all her holiday plans to visit our father. So, who wasn't made to feel welcome?

I am pissed at this woman's sick attempt to ruin our relationships with our father because she is too much of a coward to just admit that she has moved on to someone else or something she considers better (this isn't the first time she's done this). It seems to be her last ditch effort to drive a wedge between my father and his family. I have no idea what pleasure she takes from this destruction, but I will have a few choice words ready if I ever happen to run in to her.

I am pissed and devastated that my father would even consider these statements. I want to scream and yell at him..."Are you fucking kidding me?! I live a hundred and twenty miles away and see you maybe once every few months, yet I am the cause of your failed relationship?!"

It's time for my father to start thinking with the organ that sits between his ears and seriously consider what he is in jeopardy of losing. I hope that I am a strong enough person to not walk away, but eventually even the cup of unconditional love runs dry.

An Itch to Coach...

Since changing jobs and moving to a new city, I haven't been coaching. After 27 years of being involved in competitive athletics, either playing or coaching, I decided to take a break and just focus on my teaching. The two districts I worked in previously were very sports-minded and known for their athleticism. There are both positives and negatives to this mentality.

It has been nice having some free time to just do things that I want to do, but after attending a few of my students' sporting events this year, I find myself missing coaching. I miss the running (not literally...more the being busy), the activity, fostering relationships with kids I will never have in class, and the comradery amongst a coaching staff.

While I'm not sure if my overly competitive nature or high expectations of my athletes will jive with some of the coaches in my district, I think it might be time to lace up the sneaks, put the hair in a ponytail and loop the whistle around my neck again.

Teens and conflicting viewpoints

We had great discussion in one of my junior classes this morning. After reading Countee Cullen's Incident and Tableau, written during the Harlem Renaissance, we began discussing whether or not the themes were still prevalent in today's society. While we obviously talked about racial issues (fortunately I have a group of students who respect others' viewpoints and opinions), we also talked about stereotypes of people who deal with obesity and/or other disabilities and how they are treated in society.

There was still a little bit of time left in the class period when students finished working on an assignment over these two poems, so we began to discuss the six Florida girls who had lured and beat up their classmate. The discussion was eye-opening (and a little disturbing) to say the least. While some were completely disgusted by their actions, there were several students who thought that the victim was deserving. Their reasoning..."If you talk trash about people, you get what you deserve."

WHAT?!!

At the beginning of the class period we talked about victims (violence, oppression, discrimination, etc.) in our society who have been mistreated and those who have devoted their lives to bringing about change in the world. We talked about men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and at the end of the class some are defending senseless violence in the name of "saving face."

I'm at a loss for words...