Thoughts on a lonely Monday

Buenos tardes!

Nothing special going on for me this Labor Day holiday. It has been a decent weekend and I'm really glad for this extra day to relax.

Last Wednesday was Back To School Night, where parents come in for an open house-type meeting. I was scared out of my mind. It's so weird how different I feel in front of the kids verses their parents. I guess it's because I know how young I look and I AM young and who the heck am I to be teaching their kid and ... it's just really frustrating. So I was really nervous for the first period parents. It was hard to hide my shaking hands and even harder to hide the shaking voice. After 10 long minutes were up, the bell rang for the parents to move to second period class. Two older parents approached me and introduced themselves. The first question dad had was the one I dreaded most, "So how long have you been teaching?" I admitted that this was my first teaching job and the two told me they were teachers as well, so that made me feel a little better because they understood. The other periods went smoother and by the end of the night I felt a lot better. I talked to Marc's mom about it a couple nights ago and she admitted that even she felt nervous when she had to do open houses. I guess it is just one of those necessary things.

On Thursday, I went to Target to pick up a couple odds and ends. When I came out, this is the view I found:

Friday I went out with Jeff to a bar he has been frequenting and met some of his co-workers. Everyone was pretty nice but I just found myself missing my own friends... Saturday really got me feeling lonely again because Lindsey's boyfriend came to visit for the weekend (he's going to law school in San Diego) and I just hung out by myself. I read a book Lindsey told me was a must read, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. It was incredibly good and had a lot of Penn State references, but didn't help much with my loneliness. A very poor choice for my current mood.

Yesterday, the four of us took a beach trip. We drove west to Pismo beach and bummed around there for a couple hours. Pismo Beach is referred to as "Classic California." I found some more information about it here. I even went in the Pacific ocean for the first time with more than my feet, though it was 56 degrees. BRRR. It was weird to think I was at the beach on September 2nd. Here are some pictures I took at Pismo:

After Pismo, we drove south on the 101 to Santa Barbara. The 101 is so neat because at times, you are driving right along the coast.

It was SO much colder there and Lindsey and I had to buy hoodies. I wish I had remembered that this happened when Scott and I went. We ate at a place called Longboard's Grill for dinner. Speaking of "The 101," Lindsey's boyfriend made me realize something. I am using California slang! Back home I would have never said "The 80" or "The 78" but for some reason, I place "The" in front of "101" here. Weird. Anywho, we were all pretty tired last night and didn't get back until 12:30am.

Today I've just been hanging out by myself. I'm still feeling the lonely blues and not in the greatest of moods. Turkey has been acting like a complete jerk. It's strange but he definitely acts more like a jerk when I'm in a bad mood. And that doesn't help anything. Sometimes I really wish animals could reason. Look what he did to the lower level of his condo. UGH!!!!!!

I'm going to go grocery shopping so I get myself out of the apartment. Oh and since Marc requested it, here is the picture Ellen drew for me and a picture of Turkey to compare. She did a great job. :)