It’s You Not Me

At the beginning of the school year, I received an email from a 2009 graduate that had been in one of my English 1 classes as a senior last year.  He asked if I remembered him and I wrote back and said, “Of course, how are you?” He wrote back and told me what he was doing and asked for my phone number.  Long story short, I told him no, email was fine but he kept asking for it so he could text me.  Right when I sent the emails to my department chair for help, he sent one more email begging to know why he couldn’t have my cell phone number, he missed me (something he’d mentioned before) and said he wanted me to be “a real close friend.” Ding! I’m done.

My department chair immediately went to the principal with the issue and I met with him that day.  He had the tech department block the kid’s email and I suddenly felt scared.  Not for what the issue was at the moment but what it could be (the kid lives in the same town, knows where I work and attends the community college down the street.)  My principal told me to let him know if any further contact occurred because law enforcement would be brought in.  I did not believe it would come to that and figured my last, “Stop emailing me” and the email blocking would do it.

But I was wrong.

I have a Twitter account strictly for student access to missed assignments.  I post (almost) daily the assignments for all my students.  The account is not locked so students do not necessarily have to “follow” me in order to see the assignments I list.  However, I do have a few students that do “follow” me and this morning I noticed I had another follower.  Hmmm, strange because I usually receive an email stating as much.  I clicked on the link to see my followers and sure enough, my stalker was the new follower.  I was sick to my stomach.  He didn’t get the clue that I thought was so obvious.

I copied and pasted the page and emailed it to my principal, department chair and vice-principal.  I had assumed my vp knew what was happening but he emailed me after to find out the details.  I saw him this afternoon after our meetings and filled him.  He suggested I not stay too late at school and I agreed.  So much for staying late to grade and not bringing anything home.  With sundown coming so fast, I don’t want to be at school any later than I have to be.  I’ll just take everything home from now on until the situation is resolved.

At first, I thought I had blown things out of proportion but I can see that I haven’t and I’m completely creeped out by this.  The kid was not someone I would have suspected at all of doing something like this.  He’s fixated and I am afraid of escalation.  It’s always the quiet ones…

Five Dollars

I’m not a saver. I usually don’t have much left at the end of each month to save anyway. But I saw this anecdote about a savings plan in a magazine. A man said he tucks away every $5 bill he gets in change and that money goes toward his family’s vacations. So I talked it over with Mr. M and we decided to give this a shot. In a week, we’ve collected 21 $5 bills toward our Seattle trip this winter. It’s super easy and kind of fun. I wonder how much we’ll save by then…

Signs

When the signs are pointing in one direction, it’s hard to ignore. 

All I can say is that I’ve become increasingly frustrated with a situation and there’s not much I can do about it right now except pray for change. 

It’s either pray or develop an ulcer.  So let’s pray, shall we?

Chilly

The air is biting today. At least it was a few hours ago when I woke up. I thought I had woken up outside but no. Turns out my heater doesn’t want to work properly. I turned it on yesterday to work its way to 70 degrees (we were at 66) and realized this morning the heat never came on. I only know this because the temp should have gone UP not down like it did… to 61 degrees. Brrrr! I know that’s probably not the chilliest in the world but it is to me when I have a recovering-from-surgery patient wrapped up in quilts. I plugged in a space heater and called in for reinforcements. The tech should be arriving in a few hours to figure out the problem with my 30 year old heat/ac unit (strange that the unit is so old and yet the house is only half that old… hmmm…)

The Arrival of Fall

Overnight, the wind shifted greatly and fall arrived.  Yesterday, it was 81 degrees while today may only be 64.  Leaves litter lawns and disturb pool ornaments.  Time to put away the floaties and bring out the sweaters and socks. 

Ringing in fall means to me baking, dark mornings and knitting.  Baking is the number one challenge as I have taken on the task of finding a flour that is low in carbohydrates.  My search led me to a site that allows for recipe input and gives back the nutritional data, including carbohydrates.  I LOVE this.  I discovered that rice flour is incredibly high in carbs while a whole wheat white enriched (or unenriched) is relatively low.  Peanut flour sounds interesting but seems limited in scope.  I may seek out a whole wheat white flour to do my baking this fall.  My next hunt will be for a sugar substitute.  An experiement with Splenda yesterday did not yield the results I wanted (I had hoped that nasty Splenda aftertaste would bake off but no.  It’s still there.  I hate fake sugars for this very reason.)  Truvia/Stevia might be the next ingredient to tackle.

With the time change coming soon, the mornings have grown darker.  Waking up in the mornings has become increasingly more difficult as I seem to wake up best with the sun.  Wouldn’t that be a great schedule?  The sunrise determines your work day?  Well, unfortunately, the school day does not shift with the time change.  Speaking of the school day, I wonder how my students are doing this week?

I am at home for the week, caring for my fiance as he recovers from foot surgery.  Exhaustion has set in and I think a nap is in order for today.  Even though the circumstances are not ideal, I do enjoy being with him and learning more about him and us together.  I’ve been doing much cooking and haven’t fared too badly yet.  Cooking for him has generated several conversations that have led us to discover our continual agreement on many, many things, cementing and deepening my love and admiration for him.  I cannot wait to be his wife.  While I am waiting, I am knitting, some.  I have several projects at hand.  I switch to a large needle blanket in between socks.  My thumb joints are aching these days.  Not sure if it’s the weather change or just a lot of knitting.

New Way

Oooo… I just discovered (finally) that WordPress has an app for blogging on Blackberry. I own a Blackberry Curve so of course I had to try it out.

Maybe I’ll be blogging a bit more now.

Speedy Delivery

After all the horror stories I had heard about the delivery times on passports (a bride having to go to LA the week before her wedding because her original application from 6 weeks prior had not been processed and in fact probably lost and similar stories), I was pleasantly surprised by this email I received this morning:

We have finished processing your passport, and it has been mailed to you.

I applied on Oct. 1 and it has not been 3 weeks since I applied yet my passport and passport card are on their way to me.    I’m thrilled!  Mr. M and I are planning to head up to northern Washington after Christmas for a little getaway during winter break.  We’ll be staying at his dad’s house (while he’s wintering in Yuma, AZ) and since we’ll be so close to the border are planning to jaunt over to Canada for a day or two as well.  I can’t wait!  I haven’t been to Victoria, BC since I was 8.

Indignant

Yesterday morning I walked into my classroom to find an email from my vice-principal. Those kinds of emails can’t be good, right? Well, it wasn’t. Apparently, the parents of one of my students has decided that the book we are reading (Dracula) is against their religion.

I walked into my VP’s office indignant. I shouldn’t have been but I was. I was indignant for two reasons: 1) We are three weeks into reading this book with 3 weeks to go and they are just NOW deciding their kid can’t read the book and 2) my religion is the same as theirs so what does that make me? I’m not asking my students to believe in vampires. If anything, we’re discussing the historical aspects of the book more than anything else.  Also, Dracula is on the district-approved list for seniors.  It’s not like I pulled this book out of the air and decided to brainwash my students in the ways of vampires.  My decision to teach this novel was to  teach the history behind it and connect it to the vampire phenomenon that is happening now.  I thought for once my students might be able to see beyond the fangs and blood and bats to see the thematic importance and literary importance.

I had 5 minutes to come up with an alternate assignment for this kid. No, really. It was 5 minutes before the first bell and he’s in my 1st period. But I did it. And I made sure my VP knew immediately.

Truly, I think the student was embarrassed. I did my utmost to keep any further embarrassment to nil but now he has to start from scratch with a new book that we are not going to be talking about in class. How much fun is that?

What happened to allowing kids to make discoveries and choices?  What happened to adults making choices based on experience rather than assumption?  The reason I am still upset about this two days later is because the parents of this kid assumed something awful about me without knowing me and the book without having read it and have robbed their child of a literary experience that might have otherwise altered his perspective.  I would much rather the student decide they dislike a book from their own reading and understanding of it than the parents make that choice for them.  I read many books in high school and college that I absolutely detest (Heart of Darkness? Gag.)  But I made that decision.  Not my parents.  Sadly, too many kids today are not allowed the luxury of imagination and choice.  Almost everything they see or do is imagined for them and pre-chosen.

I realize this is only one parent.  But that’s where it starts, yes?  Ignorance is not always bliss.  At least, not on the receiving end.

Disgusted

I am writing at a time when I most certainly shouldn’t be.  I am angry and disgusted.  My emotions are on the surface.  If I were to write this post in the morning, I’m sure most of it would be edited out.

So that’s why I’m writing it now.

Soon I will be a coaches’ wife.  I hope to develop a thicker skin very quickly.  Tonight, I watched a game that elicited the worst behavior in fans that I have seen in a long time.  The foul language, rude remarks and heckling were, well, disgusting.  I was embarrassed to be sitting on the same side as the jerks near me.  This game was also very poorly called and, I believe, cost us game-winning points.  The poor calls were only one factor in the behavior I heard in the stands. 

By all accounts, the good, the bad and the ugly trickles downhill.  When adult fans jeer and swear, younger fans think it’s ok to jeer and swear during a game.  They grow up in this fashion and the trickle keeps going downhill, breeding more and more idiotic fans.  Hence, the junior varsity player I told to stop swearing at the other team as they walked by.  The level of disrespect I’ve witnessed at the last two games is embarrassing.

Now I’m not so sure that it’s thicker skin I need.  Maybe it’s a seat on the players’ bench or on the visiting side for the rest of the season.

Wedding!

But not mine! 

My friend B got married over the weekend.  As I was downloading the pictures for this post, I just realized that I walked back down the aisle completely wrong!  Crap!  I’m sorry, B!  I can’t believe I JUST realized that. 

Sigh.

Onward and upward…  Here are a few shots for you:

Waiting for the ceremony to start…  My sil, bro and D.

The maids! (Technically, we’re “matrons” but that sounds so… matronly.)

I LOVE her expression! I’m so glad my mom caught this moment.

The beautiful bride and I. You can’t see her hair from this angle but it so rocked the vintage glam.  Awesome job the stylist did.

Aw.  <3