May 8
I took my advanced group to Discovery Bay to perform for some function for some club at the golf course there. Field trips always range from mildly stressful to "Uh-oh, she's gonna blow!!" This one fell in the mildly stressful category. I had a small group of kids going, the audience was eager to hear us, and we were in no rush to get back to school that afternoon.
We had to make time to get lunch, so I found myself seated at a long string of tables in Denny's, with 12 teenagers. They were noisy, boisterous, messy and I left the wait staff a very large tip.
May 10
This was Fine Arts Day, so instead of teaching, I spent the day directing my advanced and show choirs on stage for part of the period. Kids from many different classes came to watch. It was a fun day, but a little bit chaotic as I never had a full grasp of where all of my kids were at any given time.
May 11
Ahh, Friday afternoon. Lovely time for a panic attack.
I had to go to the district office to sign a letter of intent to return for another year. To start off, the lady in personnel never changed a mistake she made last summer--and believe me, I did, back then, point out that Elizabeth is my middle name, not my first name.
Anyway, she was a little bit rude to me, and tried to convince me that the form I was signing is a legally binding contract (according to my union, it's not, but that's moot, because I'm staying now anyway--by my own choice).
So I got in my car and the weight of it all came crashing down. I called my friend and mentor, Karen, and started sobbing uncontrollably. I could barely breathe, I was in such a panic. I really worried myself.
But I'm better now.
May 13
Happy Mother's Day! Mom chose to spend her special day by helping me put together my new desk set. Actually, she volunteered Daddy to do most of the work. She and I helped.
I bought lunch at Panera and had that ready when they arrived at my apartment. After lunch we began the arduous task of building my new desk--and it looks great, if I do say so myself:
It has enough storage for all of my things, and it's much more attractive than the folding card table I was using.
May 15
Progress report grades were due this day, and the week itself was my "tech week" of sorts--the week before my concert. I was remarkably un-stressed about the whole thing, but still, I was pretty busy.
May 19
Senior Ball...Ahhh, those were the days. I didn't go as a chaperone, but the topic of senior ball kept all of my seniors and even some juniors occupied all week.
May 21
This was Senior Ditch Day--and the last day before my concert. And my dress rehearsal. Quick shout-out to the seniors who bothered to come to dress rehearsal. Thank you, you all are dolls.
The rehearsal was long and tiring. Theater lights are hot and make me sweat, especially when I'm running around adjusting microphones and all that jazz.
May 22
Poor Millie. I left the apartment shortly after 7:00 in the morning, to print my concert program off at Kinko's. I did not arrive home again until 9:30 that night.
I had a full day of teaching, and then, after school, a long calendaring meeting for next year that I had to attend. It was actually interesting to see what goes into making the activity/event calendar for a school as large as ours is. And nice, because the performing arts teachers get first dibs on the theater, because our use of it is part of our curriculum.
After the meeting I slurped down some soup and some fruit in my classroom, then started getting ready for the concert. Mom and Dad arrived with roses. The concert went very well, and I was home by 9:30. Perfect!
May 24
This was a crazy day. The night before, I had spoken on the phone to a guy I'd met through Yahoo Personals and we'd agreed to meet for dinner on Thursday night. I had to sit through two-and-a-half hour audition process for my advanced choir, go home, grab a quick shower, make myself adorable, and then drive to Crockett, about 30 minutes away.
Of course, being me, I got lost on the way there, so I was a teensy bit late. Once I got there, however, at 7:30, things went very nicely. We ate and chatted and laughed for a while, and when I finally left, it was 11:00.
And though we got along very well...there was just no spark, so it's fizzled since then. But hey, I went on a date, and after all the moving around I've been doing, that's a good thing!
May 25
Ahh, three-day weekend!! I managed to take some "bank" time I had saved up, and got 7th period on Friday covered by a sub. Fifth period is my prep, so I left school right after 3rd period and hit the road to Lincoln. That afternoon I had a nap, then met Katie and Lisa for dinner in Folsom. I finally got to meet the brand-new Gracie, Katie's 2-month-old daughter. There's nothing like holding a sweet, sleepy baby!
May 26
On Saturday, I went shopping for some necessities with Mom and Dad, then came back and took another long nap that afternoon. The week had provided me with plenty of late nights, and I was feeling it.
May 27
On Sunday, I met up with Heather and we drove to San Francisco. We ended up walking around the Union Square district, poking into shops, drooling over a FABULOUS, $945 pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes, and taking a few pictures of the fabulous downtown San Francisco.
We walked up and down those hills--my legs were sore for a couple of days! Then we had dinner at a great Irish pub. The food was delicious, the cider was on tap (joy of joys!) and the manager was adorable. As we left, I turned to give him my brightest smile, returning his "have a great evening" with the most flirtatious toss of my hair I could manage. Feeling proud of myself, I sashayed outside.
Heather was cracking up.
"Well done, Bridget. That would have been much more effective had you not knocked over the sign on your way out."
Hey, it's one of my many charms.
May 29 and 30
I blogged about Every 15 Minutes in my previous post, so I won't add much here, except to say that the funeral on Tuesday did bring tears to my eyes. What an amazing program.
May 31 and Today
This was an exciting day. A week ago, there had been an email from one of the senior class advisors. They were desperate for teacher chaperones to go on the annual Disneyland Grad Night trip. So I eagerly volunteered. Yesterday, I found myself excitedly boarding a bus with 43 hyper seniors. There were two chaperones on each bus, and many of the chaperones were people I know fairly well and like a lot.
And the best part? Essentially, I got paid to go to Disneyland.
The busses rolled out of school a little after noon. We made two stops on the way to Anaheim, including one long stop for food in Buttonwillow, CA. Great name, no?
We arrived at the park around 9:30, and spent the next couple of hours in California Adventure, which I had never seen. We rode a couple of rides, including the California Screamer, a fabulous roller coaster. In the pic below, it's the one with the Mickey head on it.
Here's my colleagues and I, waiting in line for California Screamin'.
Paula, Jackie, John:
Jackie, John, and me:
After the coaster, we came across a ride with virtually no wait time--King Triton's Carousel. Jackie, Paula and I dragged a reluctant John onto the ride, so he, too, could straddle a sea creature.
John and Jackie:
Paula can't help herself when there's a pole around:
At midnight, everyone transfered over to the Magic Kingdom. We met up with two more chaperones, Maria and Becky, and the six of us got in line to ride the Indiana Jones ride. Becky was our "driver:"
After this, we all went on Jungle Cruise, then we all split up. Becky, Maria and I went on Pirates of the Caribbean. Then they had duty at Chaperone Central, so I did some shopping (hey, I've got a niece and a nephew to buy for now!).
We stayed in the park until 6:00, when we all stumbled to our busses and passed out for the long ride home. I managed to get some sporadic sleep, but needless to say, I'm exhausted tonight after pulling an all-nighter--but I had a great time. I hope to go again next year. The kids were great, and Disneyland is such a fun place. I hadn't been since high school, and it was really fun to see it again.
So here I am. It is Friday, June 1st. I got home at about 3:00 this afternoon and promptly brushed my teeth, showered, and sat down. I ordered pizza for dinner. It is 6:00 and I'll probably stare at the TV for a little while before crashing in bed.
And now, I have nine days left of school. I'll be prepping the seniors to sing at graduation, and giving some music theory lessons to my younger choirs. I'm planning fundraisers for next year, and coming up with ideas for music. Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to having some "me" time, because all too soon, summer will be over, and I'll be back into the hectic craziness that is teaching high school.
Bring it on.
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