Monday, August 27, 2007
one day down, 179 to go!
hahahah…
no, i’m not counting down.
however, it is nice to have the first day over with. it causes so much anxiety because it really sets the tone for the whole year… good news is, the day went great, and all i have to do is keep it up. if i do, then this year will be (relatively) easy. if i don’t set the right precedent..... well, it could be an uphill battle the whole way.
anyways, -that’s- why i’m glad the first day is done. i think i did a fairly decent job today, and i’m looking forward to a great school year!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
a new bachelorette pad
and the new roomie took a tour at 2 and told me she had other places to look at before she could give me a decision tomorrow morning, and then she called me 5 hours later to tell me she wants to live here!
this helps ALOT with my financial situation, especially in this last month before i get my first paycheck in october. teachers only get paid once a month, and it’s been a rather difficult summer.
and she seems really nice, so it seems like it’ll work out fine…
things are falling back into place =)
and now i’ll get started on my syllabus! yeah… sorta took a small nap earlier, so i’m just getting started. -sigh-
last day of summer
on this, my last “official” day of summer (i’ve actually been working for a while now but school starts tomorrow), i’m just sitting at home trying to prep for tomorrow and the week’s activities. meaning mostly, i’m sitting at my computer saying that i’m getting my syllabus done, when in actuality i am watching tv and playing games.
it sure is hard to break the summer habits and get in to ‘work mode’... perhaps it’d be easier if i set aside an office area in my house where i would go to get work done, which would be not in my bedroom and not on the couch in front of the tv =)
on another note, i think i found a potential roommate. she is checking out another apartment tomorrow morning and then she should call me after that to let me know her decision. and if she doesn’t want it i’ve had two other inquiries… hopefully that works out.
i have plans to watch superbad tonight… now… on to making my syllabus - i WILL be done before i do anything else tonight!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
making volleyball shirts
so my volleyball girls came and helped me get my room ready for school… they are too cool - they cleaned, organized, and decorated in 3 hours and now my classroom is ready for the first day! we had a small pizza party in my room and then went over to a student’s house to make volleyball shirts as our pre-school bonding activity. we also went to watch a cal state san bernardino volleyball game (they won 3 straight!) after we were done with our shirts… yup, it was a full day bonding with the girls!
i think the shirts came out pretty cool!
each of the girls made about 3 shirts each, in a variety of styles, but everyone has the t-shirt with the volleyball on the right side, “varsity” spray painted on the front of the shirt, and their name on the back, along with their number.
and mine says “coach kimisha” cuz that’s what they call me!
team bonding sho’ is fun!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
i only have to teach 3 classes this year
only three classes. and they’re all algebra 1. so i only have one class to prepare for…
but how could i only have 3 classes? when a typical day has 6 periods in it? well… you see, those poor kids have me for 2 periods at a time!
yup.
periods 1 & 2 have the same kids, then period 3 meets me only once right before early lunch at 10:20 am, aka kimi’s breakfast time. then i have periods 4 & 5 with the same kids. technically, then i have period 6 “free” in order to prepare for the next day, and do my grading and recording, etc, but that’s when i will be spending my time with the volleyball team.
i don’t know what or how i will be teaching to those poor students who have me twice in a row, but i will have to figure out 2 hours worth of math to do every day! wow… but that also means i will have only 3 classes of students to grades, so i won’t have 150 students to keep track of… weird. but it also means that i will have students who will need the extra help, so basically i will have a classroom full of students who don’t like math taking math 2 times in a row… quite the challenge to live up to, but i’m hoping i can make it interesting enough for them to learn so that they can finish their requirements to graduate. eeek!
anyways, it’s good to finally know my schedule =) that means i can start planning for the year now!
it is WAYYYYYY too early in the morning!
it is seven oh five in the morning and i am up, dressed for work, and eating breakfast (cereal and oj). i almost packed a lunch, too, but i remembered my co-workers wanted to eat a lunch together, and even though i don’t have a lotta money it seems like getting to know them would be the wise thing to do.
i’m headed to a seminar at my school that starts at 7:30, just like all the classes start in a week and a half. and technically i’m supposed to be on the road already because i have to be at work by 7:15 on a school day. but i’m not teaching today and i really wanna make sure i start a good habit with breakfast!
i’m so proud of myself being up and awake already, and even being productive! shooot.... someone congratulate me =) and wish me luck!
wishing i could go back to bed right now...
Monday, August 13, 2007
perseid meteor shower
perry, gigi, and i went up towards forest falls to see this pretty cool meteor shower
i tried to take a picture but it looked like this:
yeah… my camera isn’t good enough to take pics of stars. which only means that i will have to upgrade some time =)
next on my list of things to do - watch a colorful meteor shower! it’s after school starts but it will be on a weekend… looking forward to it!
Friday, August 10, 2007
avp tourney at manhattan beach
in lieu of practice yesterday, the team went down to manhattan beach to watch some avp volleyball
we had a lotta fun, and we played beach volleyball as some practice, but then the sand was wayyy too hot, so we just went down to the water and hung out over there (yeah, you can’t see them on purpose… i darkened the pic so you can’t...)
we had a lotta fun bonding as a team… it was all of their first times at an avp tourney, and they had a lot of fun! it was nice to be at one of those events again, since i haven’t gone since i was in high school myself. towards the end of the day, we were able to play on an avp court, and that was pretty fun to be part of the action. we had dinner at cpk on the way home, and it was just a lot of fun all day long!
go colton volleyball!!!
Monday, August 06, 2007
my one trip this summer - with rita and marlene
on the paradise boat with carnival cruise lines
like i said earlier - this summer has been mostly with me just trying to save some money, and not doing a whole lotta sutff that costs alot. but we got this cruise before and it was really discounted, and it was my one trip this summer.
it sho’ was a lotta fun.... thanks ladies!
Friday, August 03, 2007
who is gore vidal?
so i went to the hollywood bowl today with kat, and we listed to tunes by bernstein, copeland, and gershwin.
the first one, by bernstein, i sorta realized i recognized it at first, and then whispered to kat “i sorta feel like i should be watching cartoons running around on stage” because it had that running around feeling to it. it was just… soundtracky, y’know? and all the cartoons i watched growing up always had classic music tunes while you watched them chase each other around cliffs and anvils and through hallways and doors. as the medley progressed to the next song, i realized that this was actually a song i knew the words to, and then i slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together as i heard the theme song “maria.... i’ve just met a girl named maria” and realized i why it sounded so soundtracky - i was actually listening to the theme from “west side story”
the next piece on the set was by copland and it was a bunch of songs sung by some dude who was really unremarkable. but kat knew the songs he was singing. and i didn’t.
but after the intermission, the next piece was by copland again, but this time it had a narrator, not a singer. and he got this big ol’ introduction, being that he shared the same political views as copland, etc, etc, and that he had a great voice, and please welcome to the stage, gore vidal!
kat and i sorta looked at each other, didn’t wanna act like we didn’t know who he was, so we “ahhh’ed” him as we watched him being wheeled out onto the stage, and then sorta clapped but whispered to each other, “who is he?”
yeah yeah, so we’re ignorant. we didn’t really wanna acknowledge that we didn’t know who he was, but we couldn’t explain him to each other either. so we both whipped out our cell phones and texted different friends to see who could find out first. she won with the response “author”, but i think that my response 10 minutes later was a better explanation: “He’s lilke a writer dude who created controversy because he wrote about homosexuality… why?”
anyways, after hearing gershwin and also not being able to place the tune i was hearing, kat and i came home and i promptly wikipedia’d “gore vidal” and read up about him. -and- i found out susan is currently reading a book by him and that he is a fantastic author with a fascinating autobiography.
i think everyone who knows me will know that i might be able to hum along with a song, but i don’t know its title, the correct words, or anything else. i’ll sorta fudge it if i actually try to sing along. and apparently, i have to admit that i might recognize names as well, but i can’t really describe them or anything. i have a lot of surface knowledge. but i’m really lacking in contemporary culture. it’s sorta sad. no, lemme rephrase that. it’s -really- sad. but google and wikipedia are working overtime to educate me =)
i’m in my late 20’s and finally catching up…
Thursday, August 02, 2007
busy busy
i’ve been slacking off on my posts recently cuz i’ve been busy coaching…
actually… that’s all i’ve been busy doing, so that’s probably why i haven’t been posting.
i -have- been online a lot, so i can’t really use that excuse. i just don’t really wanna blog about being online tho… so… i guess this post is useless?
except i had two visitors today, and that we took some silly pics. thanks to sarah and ellie for visiting me today!
