Happy New Year! It's been forever since I've written. I've had the busiest break of all time, it seems. This is the first day that I have been alone the entire break. It's been crazy. I had a pretty good time, but I wish I had more time to relax and get ready for school.
My mom was here for a week, and I really miss her. While she was here we did a lot of fun stuff, including seeing three movies. We saw Catch Me if You Can, which I thought was pretty good. Leo did a good job at portraying a teenager/likable guy. It was sort of too long, but it was interesting. We also saw Maid in Manhattan which reminded me why Jennifer Lopez is popular despite her J. to the Lo-ness. She is totally adorable in the movie. Although I didn't really like the Ralph Fiennes casting (not cute enough for our J. Lo!), I thought he did a decent job as well. I was annoyed he was a Republican and J. Lo was cool with that, but whatever. The best movie I saw was Antwone Fisher. What a great movie! I loved loved loved it, and I cried nearly the whole movie. The main guy who played Antwone is such a cutie and reminded me of my ex-boyfriend (the one I went out with for a year or so when I was fifteen and sixteen who I thought was the "love of my life"). He really looked like him. He was an excellent actor, I thought, especially for this being his first role. I want to read the book Finding Fish now.
My mom and I also just went shopping and stuff like that. I really hope she decides to come back to live here after the school year is out. That is sort of up in the air for now, because of the certification thing where she is not being a sure thing. She isn't sure whether she should stay and get alternate certification or what. I hope she just comes home. I think she will be happier here. And I will be happier.
Christmas was good. I got some nice gifts, including the My So Called Life box set, which hasn't come yet, and the Felicity box set. I was so thrilled to get both of those. I watched the first two episodes of Felicity already. What a great show, and so fun not to have commercials! They are only 42 minutes long without commercials. I can't wait to watch the pilot with commentary. I wish there were more extras, though. There is nothing but the episodes. I also got a fondue set, slippers, Hello Kitty stuff, jewelry, etc. Justin and I set a limit of $100 for each other, but I ended up blowing that and got him a Playstation 2. He was totally surprised. I also bought him some cologne because I had already bought it and I didn't want to be stingy and take it back. His brother got him a game so I wouldn't have to get that. He is really excited about it. He and Mark (he has one as well) are acting like the biggest geeks about them. They are constantly talking about some auto racing game they both have and how they win these cars and soup them up and stuff. Really annoying, to be honest. Plus Mark got this game Socomm that included some thing where you talk on this headset to other people you are playing on the internet. He looks like such a nerd while doing it. It is the funniest thing I've ever seen. So of course Justin wants to get it so they can play each other. So he was pretty happy with his gifts.
I went shopping and bought some new clothes, including some new jeans and five new shirts. Two of the shirts are shirts that are sort of "going out" shirts, so that was cool. I have hardly any clothes that you can wear to a bar or club.
New Year's was very low key. I took about two pictures, which is unusual for me. My stomach was hurting so I couldn't really drink much, and we also went to this dumb club, mainly so we wouldn't feel bad about not going out again. It was okay. Elizabeth was on a trip, so she wasn't there. I thought it was very sweet that they got me a present (a necklace and earings). I got Elizabeth a really cute present, too, that I know she will like. I am actually feeling like I am becoming friends with her now. We used to just sort of be acquaintances because we were their girlfriends, but we all hung out over break and also we went Christmas shopping and totally separated from them and it was fun hanging out just us. I miss having girl friends around. So it was me, Justin, Jason, Mark, and Mark's other friend (I can't remember his "name"). I met the other friend a few other times, and actually gave Justin the impression I was flirting with him, so I was sort of on guard to make sure that I wasn't acting that way. I do have to admit I think he is sort of cute, but I wasn't purposely trying to be like that to him.
After New Year's I ended up spending the next few days with Justin, partly because I ended up having car trouble again. $200.00 more into the pile of shit I call my car. Hopefully it will behave itself for awhile. It was something with the thermostat, which caused something with the exhaust. At least it wasn't more money.
The highlight of my break was yesterday. My brother and sister (the second and third oldest, the 16 and 19 year olds) came to visit me for the night. She is away at college usually, but she was home for the break. I had such a great time with them. They are really fun and it was a lot easier to talk to them without adults and little kids around. We ended up going to the beach, going out for pizza, and watching Felicity, Say Anything and Good Will Hunting. We also took some pictures with our digital cameras. They were just really cool. They also really seemed to like their presents I got them. They brought me a bottle of wine, which I thought was very sweet. I was so glad I had such a good time with them, and I am really looking forward to seeing them again. It is so cool that they are so open to the idea of getting to know me. I feel very grateful.
Today I have mainly read, slept, and played on the computer. I know I should be grading and planning, but who cares. I'll do it all tomorrow because I'm super-crazy teacher who likes to procrastinate and stress herself out by doing it all in one day.
I did get to read a lot this break. I read one legal thriller which was set in Oregon. The Burning Man by Phillip Margolin was interesting enough but not really a great book. I mainly read it because it was set in Oregon, but I enjoyed the happy ending. That was the first legal thriller I've ever read. I doubt I will be reading many more.
One of the other teachers who has the exact same seniors as I do came up to me right before school got out and handed me a book. He said that it was a great book and I should read it. How to Survive in Your Native Land by James Herdon was set in the late sixties or seventies, but it was really good anyway. It's just one of those accounts of a teacher writing about his classroom. It made me think about the issue of teaching as a whole, and about what we expect kids to act like, and how schools as a whole fail because of the way they are. It was just enjoyable. What was weird was that his writing style was so strange but it reminded me of Frank McCourt's writing in a way--they both are sort of lyrical. Anyway, I liked it so much that I ordered his first book The Way it Spozed to Be and I am enjoying that as well. This one is set in the school that he started teaching at, which was in a "ghetto." I also read Elizabeth Berg's book True to Form. I really like her understated writing style, and always enjoy reading her books. I think that's all I had a chance to read.
I'm glad to be getting back to school and seeing the kids on Monday. I hope that feeling lasts. It's just the planning and grading part that I'm not really looking forward to.
