playing catch-up (you bring the mustard)

Hey Dodger fans

(sorry, that's an Oliver and Company reference...)

I wanted to throw out a quick update of my life and also get some opinions.

Life is going well. It's begun to cool down a little outside, but it doesn't feel as "cold" here as you are probably feeling recently (low humidity here, remember). We reached middle of the quarter last week, so I had to send deficiency notices home for students who are failing or getting a D. I think I sent out about twelve, not too bad. The reason they are doing poorly is because they refuse to do their homework - not my problem.

I've definitely been working my tail off and overall, I feel like my lessons are improving. I think the kids are actually learning, too! The only issue I am having is coming home and working. I know I'm supposed to find time to separate my school life and home life, but when am I supposed to get everything done? I'm constantly amazed at all of the secretarial, administrative, extra-curricular, etc. things that are thrown at teachers - ON TOP OF TEACHING. I always have it all planned out at school, but when I get home, I usually can't bring myself to do a thing. I just want to exist for a couple hours, without thinking about school.

Yesterday I decided to start running again. I don't know where the motivation came from for this, except that there was a cool breeze and Jeff and Lindsey were going to the gym. I kept up a nice pace for about 25 minutes, and did some sprinting at the end. Yes, I'm feeling it today. I'm not sure how far I ran, because I just ran through the paths at our apartment grounds. Perhaps I can borrow an odometer from someone in the science department.

Since my mom asked me if Turkey was still alive, I'm going to post some pictures I took of him the other day when he was snuggling with his elephant. When I walked in the room he was actually resting his head on it, but he didn't want to look like a wuss so...

I decided that I really need to get my California driver's license and registration/plates this week. It's supposed to be done within 10 days of moving to the state... but who's counting? It's annoying to show my ID (you have to show it every time you use your credit card) and have cashiers remember me and say, "Shouldn't you be getting your new one...?" Ooops. Hopefully, I can sneak in sometime right after school this week. Jeff said it takes at least two hours. I have to get my car a SMOG test and also take a written driver's test, on top of all the paperwork and fees. Now you can see why I have been putting it off...

I have noticed a lot of Californians have vanity plates. I'm toying with the idea, but I wanted some other opinions. Here are a couple ideas I had (Joe gave me the "yo" ones), let me know what you think! All listed are (at this moment) available.

"YO TEACH" and "WE ARE" are taken. Have other ideas? 2-7 alpha-numeric characters.

- Carol