Surprisingly Efficient

This morning I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm. I decided I might as well start getting ready for work. Instead of taking over an hour to get ready for work, it too me a half hour. I ended up getting to work a half hour early instead of my usual right-on- time-in-the-real-world-but-late-according-to-the-school-clocks.

The computer teacher had a meeting this morning so I was supposed to cover his class during my prep period. He gave me all of the matierals for typing drills but when I got to class I discover it was one of their in-class learning days. They could do nothing that I was told they were suposed to do. Instead, I taught them how to draw The Sierpinski Triangle.

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I am not in a good mood. I just had a physics class where it was an absolute struggle to get them to pay attention. A ton of time was wasted and we barely got a start on the notes. I really don't want this to effect the rest of the day.

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Scientifically Annoyed

Before school started, I got half way through organizing and making an inventory of lab supplies. I stopped because it was taking me way longer than I was expecting and I had to prepare other things for the school year. I have done a little here and there since but have not had a significant amount of time to work on it. I came to the school today for the specific reason to organize the lab. The director came and opened the school for me. He knew why I was there but he gave me a lecture about how I need to make an inventory of the lab supplies while I was doing it. What? Isn't that the reason I am here? It is like telling someone in the middle of washing the dishes that the dishes need to be washed.
Also, why am I the only one who needs to be doing this? I'm not the only science teacher in the school. I worked on this for 3 full days before school started. The other high school science teacher worked on it for about a half hour. The middle years science teacher has not worked on it at all. They didn't even let me have the classroom off the science lab because the other teacher claimed the she was going to be using it more. I think this is a clear cut case of take advantage of the new girl.

Wrath of Jan

I gave my chemistry class a pop quiz today. Yesterday they were talking so much while I was teaching I stopped in the middle of my notes and made them learn it on there own from the text. I think I gave the greatest speech of my teaching career. You know how in the movies when someone is upset they will give brilliant speeches but in real life no one takes you seriously? No one makes sense when they are angry. That wasn’t me. Today I tested them on how well they learned on there own. Several of the students have smartened up, they do not want that to happen again.

Someone had the brilliant idea to have “Meet the Teacher” night on Friday. Friday is prime for slinking out early not staying 4 hours later. I got to school this morning at 7:50 am and I will be leave at approximately 8 pm. Ouch.

I was walking to supper with some co-workers (who happen to be male) and happened to run into my cousin who I had not seen for weeks. We are both to the same get-to-together tonight but I won’t get there until after 8. I’m paranoid that she be telling tales that she saw me with men before I get there (men that happen to be married or living with a girlfriend). We’ll just have to see.

In Calgary the no-smoking by-law does not go into effect until 2008. Tonight at supper, even though we were sitting in the non-smoking section, I went away with my hair and clothes reeking of smoke. What a great first impression for meeting the parents. “Nice to meet you. Contrary to the way I smell, I do not smoke like a chimney.” Man, I’m not even smokin’ like Ky.

I ran into someone I could not stand from high school yesterday. I was getting on the train as he was getting off. Time has not made him any less weasely (including his moustache).

Happy 2nd Blogiversary

I have officially have been blogging on Angelfire for 2 years now. Wow, have the times changed.

When I began blogging, I had just quit my job as a full time teacher and began my new life as a sub/shelf straightener/tutor in a new city. Since then I move again, became an admin assistant then quit that job for a full time teaching position.

I started blogging to stop bugging my friends with emails of random thoughts, forwards and surveys. It turned into another form of procrastination for me.

My personal favourite posting of the past two years: Emmy fun, mostly because of the Perfect Strangers reference.

Drive by Blogging

Sorry for the lack of posts. I STILL don't have Internet at home and I've had to leave right after school every other day this week.

I think my landpeople are avoiding me. I'm not sure why. It could be that they have something going on in their lives that I don't know about. Another theory is they are avoiding me because of the Internet situation.

I have been getting very little done in my prep periods lately. The rest of my day is so intensive, I just can't bare to work if I don't have to. Today it was a bit of a problem because I almost didn't finish my marking because of my procrastination.

Last Thursday I was facing downtown on the train as we left it. I noticed that Bell and Telus had their head offices right across the street from each other. I immediately thought "I wonder if they have rumbles on the street?" I then proceeded to rewrite songs from West Side Story with Bell and Telus instead of Jets and Sharks. I caught myself humming a little.

I'm not worried about being the crazy person on the train anymore. Today I was sitting beside someone who I thought was talking to someone across the aisle. I looked up to discover he was having a serious conversation with himself (complete with different voices for each "person"). I don't think I could ever truly live up to that.

The past two days I've had appointments after school so I've driven instead of taken the bus. Strange how when I leave an hour before I have to get to work it only takes a half hour to get there. If I leave a half hour before work, it takes 50 minutes to get there. Needless to say I was 20 minutes late yesterday and a half hour early today.
The last two days I've pretty well wasted my prep time at school. Of course I heard a quote one time that said that it was not time wasted if you enjoyed it. So I guess I can say I have not gotten any school work done during my prep period but instead I've ended up visiting with another teacher.
My classes have been very well behaved the last two days. This is mostly due to my very stern reaction to poor behaves on Friday (I'm trying to put it as polite as possible).
I've got to get going but hopefully I have time to tell the story tomorrow about how I have the potential to be "crazy lady on the train".

Dull, dull, dull

I am so close to being ready for Tuesday when the students come. After many hassles with the school's photocopier and printer, all I have left to do is look over my class notes.

My life has been rather dull the last couple days. I've been slacking off on procrastinate. The only thing I do when I am not working is watch reruns of Project Runway and Popular. All though I am super-pumped there is a Project Runway marathon tomorrow. Ugh, I have no life.

On the bargain front, I got a Sony flash drive for $10 yesterday.

What is Wrong with this Picture?

Why does Matt Damon look scared of Leonardo DiCraprio? He better be just preparing to kick him in the back of the head or I have lost all respect for him.

Drowning in Paperwork

Slowly but surely my to-do list for Monday is getting longer and longer. This is my chance to start over in a new school and make a good impression. Not that I made a bad impression in the past but I have made mistakes that I don't want to repeat. This time the situation is different too. I'm not longer a public school teacher in a small rural community.

This will be the first time in my memory that I will not be going away for the Labour Day Weekend. Too much work to do. I have no idea how I am going to get everything done and I plan to work all weekend.

In stupid computer news, I downloaded a trial version of a grade program and I think it changed my clock. I visited a web site and the browser told me that the security certificate was for a future date. I checked my clock it was set to August 8, 2004. What the aitch? Certainly encourages me to buy the full version.

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Dude Looks Like a Lady

Interesting Fact:
The 1987 Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like a Lady" is about singer Vince Neil.


The things you learn from the TV listing channel.

Nineteen years later, dude no longer looks like a lady.

Calling all Janices

I am one of two Janices that teach at this school. Not confusing at all. The director just called over the intercom for Janice to come down to the office, not specifying which one. I yelled down the hall "Which Janice?" because I was raised in a barn. They didn't know so I had to go to the director's office. He was playing a joke. However it was determined that I am the Janice with the quickest reaction time.

It is really weird to be working with another Janice. I went to a high school with over 1200 students and I was the only Janice. It might seem weird but I'm annoyed by her only for the reason that her name is the same. How dare her name be Janice! Here are some alternative names I am working to differentiate myself:
- Tall Drink of Water (the other Janice is like 3 feet tall)
- Hot Janice (obviously)
- Patrick likes Lyn better than Janice but at least Janice has never creeped Patrick out (or PLLBTJBALJHNCPO for short)
Other Suggestions?

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Porridge Brain

My brain is complete mush and I haven't been able to focus on one thing all day. It is partially because I have been fighting a headache for the past 5 days and partially because I worked 11 hours yesterday. My body isn't used to teacher hours anymore. It will take awhile to adjust to things.

The ADD approach to lesson planning:
I was looking for science cartoons but then I remembered that John Boy Walton was in a WWI movie that I saw in high school but couldn't remember the name. So after I looked up the name of the movie, it got me thinking about the ABBA song Voulez-Vous (the reason only makes sense if you watch the movie). I tried to look for ideas for bonus marks. While I was searching for enrichment activities, I remembered that I need to resources for helping students prepare for diploma exams. A million things started but nothing finished. Finding out John boy was in the 1979 version All Quiet on the Western Front was the only task I finished.

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Inner Neil Simon

Maybe if you did see the show it isn't funny, I however find it hilarious.

"Poor Jeffrey's inner Neil Simon. He's probably jaundiced from the curdled ambition and misguided need for attention flowing through Jeffrey's veins. Jeffrey's inner Neil Simon needs some sunlight. And a weekend with an iron lung."
TWOP's recap of Project Runway

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Did You Miss Me?

Today is my second day official of work at the school. The students do not come until after the long weekend. All last week I worked on lesson planning on Monday through Wednesday, Thursday I ran errands and then Friday and Saturday I was at the school setting up my classroom and organizing the science lab. Some highlights:
* I was incredibly annoyed with the condition of the lab. I found out the reason why yesterday -- the regular teacher was on maternity leave last year and the lab went to pot. I so far I have spent over ten hours cleaning and organizing the lab. I am hoping I will be done this week.
* There are quite of few teachers here around my age and we hit it off right away. Yesterday while I was cleaning two other teachers visited with me and got nothing done themselves. Our classrooms have to be ready for tonight because we have an orientation night so the other two were scrambling to get ready today.
* There are over 100 thumbtacks in my walls.
* My schedule got completely changed around yesterday. On Friday a teacher informed the administrators that she will not be able to teach this coming year because her breast cancer has come back. She had just found out. Some teachers who were not working full time were given some more classes and our schedules changed. Fortunately, my new classes are in second semester.
* I overslept this morning and made it to work in 22 minutes. The commute usually takes over a half hour (do not ask how fast I was driving). I was only 3 minutes late.

I'm a little annoyed right now. A goodbye party for a friend was last night and I found out about it this morning. The invitation was sent out by email and I still don't have Internet at home. I was able to figure out how to connect my own.

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A True Friend

A saw a quote recently that said a true friend will be there for you even when they rather be somewhere else.  As soon as I read it, I immediately thought of a time I had done that for a friend.  As I was listening to her cry, I felt guilty that I wanted to be somewhere else.  I wanted to be somewhere else but I stayed because she needed me. I was there for her many times before and many times after. Unfortunately, years later when I really needed her she was not there for me.  I got a lot of lame excuses -- I felt so used. Even though it was a long time ago, I guess I still have not gotten over the hurt of that.  Suddenly, she was in the position where she need me again.  I was hesitant due to a history of her taking and never giving.  It felt a little heartless not to help her out but yet I didn't want to be taken for a fool.

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation about giving someone another chance versus guarding yourself from being taken advantage of.  I think it is very difficult to know when to do what.  As a teacher, I had many students that their word meant nothing to me since they had been given so many chances but never delivered.  As the saying goes "I can't hear what you are saying because your actions are speaking too loud".  So when is the point that you can start trusting someone again?  I think you should forgive but when do you give them another chance?

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First Speed Bump

There was a misunderstanding about my teacher certificate with the school. The principal had some paperwork to fill out for me but was never told that she had to. The director didn't entirely understand the process and thought it was something that I filled out. When I inquired as to the progress, the director had a mini-freak out that it was not done yet. He gave me the principal's home number and she reassured me that it won't take long. She was not worried about it at all.

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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

For about the 6th time, MS Word has closed due to errors. Every time I make a change I save just so I don't lose it. I'm trying to plan a Chemistry unit and it is going no where fast. This is completely ridiculous. I just needed to shout.

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Another Brick in the Wall

I feel like it is the last day of school before summer vacation. Ironically it is my last day of work before going back to school. Much like the last day of school, I have accomplished very little and can't wait to get out of here. Unfortunately I can't ditch my last day of work.

I'll met you out at the moon tower.

My posting might be sporadic for the next couple of weeks: I can't get Internet until my landlord comes back from France. Even thought that sounds like a fib, it is the truth.

It is for your own good...

I saw this drug dealer on TV last night who said it wasn't her fault that people came to her to buy drugs. People make their own choices. Yes, people make their own choices but that doesn't mean temptation should be readily available. I came to the realization that I am a procrastination pusher. Some people deal drugs, I deal in the delicious avoidance of work. They didn't call me Captain Procrastination for nothing in high school. My sister maybe the queen but she is just a figure head.

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