Seriously? It's been 2 months since I updated? That is disgraceful.

My new bike.

It's not that I'm bored and have nothing to say.  I'm just so out of the habit of blogging now that I can't seem to make myself sit down and do it.

Let's see if I can condense the last couple of months into something readable.

• School is over for the year YO BITCHES I ONLY WORK TEN MONTHS OUT OF TWELVE. And yet, I felt wistful about saying goodbye to my class. They were such sweethearts, this bunch, and at the same time such a drain because, Jesus, the neediness. No matter how hard I worked, there was no way to fill the holes in some of these kids' lives.

• Josh and I drove to Niagara Falls to see Nik Wallenda cross them on a wire. It was awesome! We watched the event from the comfort of an air-conditioned bar with a big screen TV, and I suppose we could have done that just as easily from home but hey, ROAD TRIP!! AUNT CRAZY!! Plus, long-time readers know that I am more than a little obsessed with Niagara Falls.

• In September I will be teaching first grade at a different school, a wonderful school, a school that has me really excited about teaching again. My old school, you see, is broken, and I hesitate to say anything more than that.  I was resigned to teaching there again next year because I just couldn't muster the energy to put together a resume and go on job interviews. But a good friend of mine emailed me and said something along the lines of "There's a big beautiful world of teaching out there. Don't be afraid to put your toe in the water." So I mustered my courage and went on the interview and knocked the ball out of the park, if I do say so myself. Go me!

• Jane came to town! I love me some Jane. She is little and cute and a very sympathetic listener. I was super chatty and quite possibly over-caffeinated. We had drinks and went out to dinner and she kept lording it over me with her private sector job perks. "Oh, let me. I'll just comp this," she would say airily. "Here, I'll pay for parking. I can comp this."  And I was all, "GOD! That is so unfair! Lowly public servants like me have to buy pencils for our classrooms!"  In the interest of full disclosure, I will confess that while driving Jane to and fro I made a super illegal turn right in front of a DC cop who immediately pulled us over and asked to see my *ahem* expired drivers license. I guess he didn't look too closely--he sort of squinted at it with a disgusted expression on his face and then sent us on our way with a stern warning to obey traffic laws.

• Our bikes got stolen out of my father-in-law's garage when we were in Portugal way back in April. And you guys, I LOVED MY BIKE. Lesson learned. We live in the city now. Don't keep shit that you are fond of in a garage that doesn't have a reinforced steel door.  The silver lining is that now I have a BRAND NEW SHINY BIKE that is waaaaaay better than my old bike. I think I'm gonna call her "Christine". I think I will become obsessed with her and I will develop a sinister attitude and bad things will happen to people who try to come between Christine and me. I'm just speculating.

• We had a big storm and lots of damage and power outages in the middle of an unpleasant heat wave. Here at our place we lost power for 4 days, but I know lots of people who suffered for 7 or 8 days. It sucked. Except it wasn't really THAT bad because we have a generator with enough power to run the TV, the fridge, some lights, and a window a/c. I worried that some desperate soul would come and steal my precious generator and I considered staying up all night with a gun to protect it. Except I don't have a gun. Stupid gun control laws. You watch, I'm going to start getting reeeealy crazy about the coming apocalypse and the need to prepare.

• I'm not even kidding.

• My mom is doing well. I want to do a separate post about her.

 

I miss you guys. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Comments

[Lori]

We missed you! My bike's name is Betty.

[Bella]

Good Grief!!!! You updated - I'm off to read your words!!!!!

[FC]

Can't wait to see you on an episode of "DOOMSDAY PREPPERS ". Missed your witty wisdomy wordsmithin'.

[Laura]

Thought "Doomsday Preppers" was a joke. Thank you Google. Here in So. Cal. you get the ticket because we are broke. Thanks for updating and have fun with Christine!

[blackbird]

What a lot of news!
Good to hear from you and bravo on the new job.

[robin andrea]

Good to see a post here. Nice new bike!

[kris (lower case)]

christine...like stephen kings christine??? better watch out.. how is it i check every day for 2+ months and the day i don't check you post?? guess that is the way it always is.. hope your new teaching job is fun. at least it is something new and different..

[Margaret]

So glad to have your funny self back. I've been somewhat worried. I don't have a bike and if I did, I would fall off and break something. The weather has been perfect here lately, although we did have a nighttime thunder/lightning/rain storm. I do like a PNW summer of 80 degrees!

[Margaret]

Thank you. I hate not knowing, and imagining all sorts of 'things '

[Marcie]

Congrats on the new job!! Change is good. How is the commute? I guess that is an important thing to me.

[Karenth]

Some great teacher news there! And the BIKE, she is beautiful. If I had a bike, which I have not for 30 years, I would name her Penny. All my bikes have been named Penny, after Sky King's niece, Penny. Now you KNOW I'm old! Thanks for updating your loyal followers.
Saving the next post for the weekend, SINCE WE HAVE TO RATION THEM!

[Beth Ann]

So glad you are back. Nice to hear that you got a new job that you are excited about. I am set to student teach in Sept (Special Ed) and I'm beginning to think I made a terrible mistake. Don't tell anyone.
Good luck with the new job and enjoy the rest of your summer.

[liz michalski]

1) I am sorry about your bike.

2) I'm happy you have a new, exciting job, although I'll miss hearing about your former pupils.

3) I am ENORMOUSLY jealous that you and Jane met up.

(I will not be commenting on the math post, except to say -- SHEEPS???)

[minicredit loan]

What kind of camera was used? That is certainly a really good top quality.

apply today

[streamlenders]

this image is actually the alluring. check this out

[change jobs]

One way to do that is to determine your work values. When you
are considering a career change, you have to also think about how it affects the people around you.
However, the change happens, you move careers and all of a
sudden you find yourself alone.