Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Friday, August 5, 2011
comic relief
i am almost done with the five week certification program. only 2 days left! i don't have a teaching job, and i'm not sure that i mind that. i really want to continue to pursue my master's degree this fall. i have actually registered for the classes, and i really hope i can continue on that path.
anyway, what was so funny to me tonight (perhaps funnier that it actually was)caused me to pause and take a moment to laugh. we have been herded into classrooms for the last five weeks to learn how to be awesome teachers. i have learned about different group activities, teaching strategies, etc. perhaps the most important thing i learned is that while all students can learn, not all students learn in the same manner. therefore, while some students can excel at taking paper and pencil exams, some students are doomed when it comes to those kinds of test and will do better with other types of exams, such as, presentations, etc.
back to my story, the instructor handed out a package of sticky notes and asked us to take one and pass it back. well, one young (obviously inexperienced) student took the last one and passed the bottom blank paper to the girl in front of him. (i personally thought it was odd that he was passing it forward since it would be of no use to her.) when she saw the brown useless peace of paper, she said in her native tongue, "mira este cabr*n! el cree que es muy chistoso!" she then proceeds to scold him in front of the class, "you don't know where the trashcan is at or what???" well, needless to say, the little guy turned all kinds of red, but he was tough enough to just smile it off.
i guess it was so funny to me because the girl's frankness is something i'm unaccustomed to. i rarely call people on the carpet. or call them cabr*n for that matter.
ha!
anyway, what was so funny to me tonight (perhaps funnier that it actually was)caused me to pause and take a moment to laugh. we have been herded into classrooms for the last five weeks to learn how to be awesome teachers. i have learned about different group activities, teaching strategies, etc. perhaps the most important thing i learned is that while all students can learn, not all students learn in the same manner. therefore, while some students can excel at taking paper and pencil exams, some students are doomed when it comes to those kinds of test and will do better with other types of exams, such as, presentations, etc.
back to my story, the instructor handed out a package of sticky notes and asked us to take one and pass it back. well, one young (obviously inexperienced) student took the last one and passed the bottom blank paper to the girl in front of him. (i personally thought it was odd that he was passing it forward since it would be of no use to her.) when she saw the brown useless peace of paper, she said in her native tongue, "mira este cabr*n! el cree que es muy chistoso!" she then proceeds to scold him in front of the class, "you don't know where the trashcan is at or what???" well, needless to say, the little guy turned all kinds of red, but he was tough enough to just smile it off.
i guess it was so funny to me because the girl's frankness is something i'm unaccustomed to. i rarely call people on the carpet. or call them cabr*n for that matter.
ha!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
the worse of two evils
i have started a 90 day fitness program, and i have also started a 5 week certification program. i am dreading both, however, i actually look forward to the exercise program more than i do the certification program. i feel like my dream of becoming a college professor will be put on pause because of this horrible economy. for now, i am on my second week of the exercise program, and on the first week of the cert. program. agony, agony, agony...
how goes your summer? better than mine, i'm sure!!
how goes your summer? better than mine, i'm sure!!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
the suspense
the suspense is killing me!!! i turned in two papers last week, and i haven't heard from my professors. uggh!! i am trying hard to concentrate on my last paper, but i inevitably log on to the website, click on my lit theory class, and...NOTHING!!!!
someone please put me out of this misery and tell me what i got already!
someone please put me out of this misery and tell me what i got already!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Morales and Me: The Tale of Two Fights
one of my most vivid and heartbreaking memories as a boxing fan is that of Erik Morlaes sitting on the canvas during his fight with Manny Paquia. after boxing admirably for several rounds, Morales took a blow that landed him on the canvas. he then did something that i thought was both completely out-of-character and unforgivable--he shook his head, as if to signal, "this is the end...i cannnot win this fight." to me, that was unthinkable. a great fighter like him? giving up? calling the fight?
my foray into grad school has felt like watching that fight between Morales and Paquia. i'm morales. i can't keep swinging trying to win this match. i'm shaking my head. i'm on the canvas. i can't. stop the struggle. it's over.
Morales' defeat that night does not erase his excellent trajectory in the world of boxing. he will always be a great fighter. his defeat only proves that not all fights are won--and sometimes the fighter has to call his own fight.
my foray into grad school has felt like watching that fight between Morales and Paquia. i'm morales. i can't keep swinging trying to win this match. i'm shaking my head. i'm on the canvas. i can't. stop the struggle. it's over.
Morales' defeat that night does not erase his excellent trajectory in the world of boxing. he will always be a great fighter. his defeat only proves that not all fights are won--and sometimes the fighter has to call his own fight.
Monday, February 28, 2011
frenetic and fragmented
my life is not yet in ruins, but it sure seems like i might get there this semester.
i have been killing myself trying to do everything. every monday night i have a book review due for one of my grad classes. every monday night i am finishing the book review ten minutes before its due. that is not how i typically do it. when i was an undergrad, i did not turn anything in before proofreading and editing it. my good writing habits have gone by the wayside, and now all i can hope for is to turn in a "paper." however useless and rotten the writing is. i hate to put my professor through the agony of reading it. i don't want to read it, and i sure don't want anyone else to read it either.
oh, well. as much as i try to finish reading the books before the weekend, i just can't do it! this weekend there was u.i.l. competition, a birthday party and chuck-e-cheese, and (as if that weren't enough excitement!) we had to go buy a new washer. so, not only did i fall behind on the reading, i fell behind on the washing, too!
this afternoon, i took my little one to the doctor. of course, she is important and getting her back examined is a priority, since she took an awful fall from the swing set. however, my reading suffers. i think it's time i have the "we need to talk" talk with myself. grad classes are all at night. evening excursions are not working out for my girls and me. tonight my #1 girl almost burned something down--it's called our house! (yes, i'm exaggerating a little bit!) i'm getting this sinking feeling that this isn't going to work.
i have a presentation tomorrow on the heart of darkness. very appropriate.
i have been killing myself trying to do everything. every monday night i have a book review due for one of my grad classes. every monday night i am finishing the book review ten minutes before its due. that is not how i typically do it. when i was an undergrad, i did not turn anything in before proofreading and editing it. my good writing habits have gone by the wayside, and now all i can hope for is to turn in a "paper." however useless and rotten the writing is. i hate to put my professor through the agony of reading it. i don't want to read it, and i sure don't want anyone else to read it either.
oh, well. as much as i try to finish reading the books before the weekend, i just can't do it! this weekend there was u.i.l. competition, a birthday party and chuck-e-cheese, and (as if that weren't enough excitement!) we had to go buy a new washer. so, not only did i fall behind on the reading, i fell behind on the washing, too!
this afternoon, i took my little one to the doctor. of course, she is important and getting her back examined is a priority, since she took an awful fall from the swing set. however, my reading suffers. i think it's time i have the "we need to talk" talk with myself. grad classes are all at night. evening excursions are not working out for my girls and me. tonight my #1 girl almost burned something down--it's called our house! (yes, i'm exaggerating a little bit!) i'm getting this sinking feeling that this isn't going to work.
i have a presentation tomorrow on the heart of darkness. very appropriate.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
it is my blog, and i will write about my breakdown if i want to!!
so here we go with the drama, again!! **sigh**
shall we begin?
(by the way--shall is a modal, which means that the action has not happened and may never happen; just like should)
anyway, today is tuesday, which means i have two evening classes. i don't "work" in the morning, and i am here at home most of the day. dans le monde ideal i would have done some light reading and cleaning aujourd'hui. instead, i spent the morning trying to clean the remnants of monday night's happenings because i came in exhausted from my monday night class and didn't clean then. but, maybe i should tell you that i spent the entire weekend reading a book because i had a review due on monday night. it was 190 pages of agricultural industrialization, which was quite interesting, but still exhausting!! i was still writing my paper at 6:50 p.m. (class starts at 7:10 p.m.), when my husband came home to take over the care of the girls.
o.k. so i try to read Heiddeger, Nietzsche, and Derrida! wholly cow, batman!! in my defense, i had read some stuff on thursday, and i thought i wasn't too behind. plus, i thought that 5 hours was enough to get through it. WRONG!!! i read, and re-read, and re-re-read, and nothing was sticking!! NOT A THING!! finally, it hit me: in order to understand this mind-bending stuff, i need some some mind-altering drugs! yes, that is what's been missing. of course, i didn't/can't run out and get them. so, i'm just going to resign myself to the lot of being a stupid student of literary theory.
anyway, the breakdown happened when i was looking at the clock and noticed that i had spent an exorbitant amount of time and was still not getting IT. so, i started making dinner for the girls because i'm not home when they get home from school on tuesdays. try as i may to channel my inner June Cleaver, i just fail. i thought i had everything i needed for dinner (i've actually made a monthly menu and look at it when i go shopping on the weekend) but i didn't have what i needed. so, now i'm not only not understanding the reading, but i have to take time to run to the store to get one item that i need.
i have my momentary breakdown on my way to heb. "why can't you plan right?" "why can't you get your reading finsished on time?" "why did you think you could go to grad school?" i realize that some single, working moms have it tougher, but i'm not living their lives. i'm trying to live mine--without having these moments of negativity. my girls are sacrificing so that i can go to school. my little one wants to know when i'll be "done, done with school, like when will you stop going to school, mommy?"
i realize that nothing worth having comes easy. and, that when i do have my master's degree it will be MY triumph. but it will also be my sacrifice and that of my family's.
all i can think of in these times is that my girls will have one huge incentive to get through school while they are young and single, and that incentive will be my life. they will remember these days. i know that without a doubt. i'm the perfect example of what not to do. they will think: don't put your family through that. don't put your kids through that. and more importantly, what i hope they think is, don't put yourself through that.
alors, i have decided that the only way this mother is going to get through this semester is by abusing another mother. i will be using paper plates, plastic cups, plastic utensils, it will be a plastic/paper-palooza until i graduate. too bad i can't cook using disposable pots.
bonsoir, good people!!
shall we begin?
(by the way--shall is a modal, which means that the action has not happened and may never happen; just like should)
anyway, today is tuesday, which means i have two evening classes. i don't "work" in the morning, and i am here at home most of the day. dans le monde ideal i would have done some light reading and cleaning aujourd'hui. instead, i spent the morning trying to clean the remnants of monday night's happenings because i came in exhausted from my monday night class and didn't clean then. but, maybe i should tell you that i spent the entire weekend reading a book because i had a review due on monday night. it was 190 pages of agricultural industrialization, which was quite interesting, but still exhausting!! i was still writing my paper at 6:50 p.m. (class starts at 7:10 p.m.), when my husband came home to take over the care of the girls.
o.k. so i try to read Heiddeger, Nietzsche, and Derrida! wholly cow, batman!! in my defense, i had read some stuff on thursday, and i thought i wasn't too behind. plus, i thought that 5 hours was enough to get through it. WRONG!!! i read, and re-read, and re-re-read, and nothing was sticking!! NOT A THING!! finally, it hit me: in order to understand this mind-bending stuff, i need some some mind-altering drugs! yes, that is what's been missing. of course, i didn't/can't run out and get them. so, i'm just going to resign myself to the lot of being a stupid student of literary theory.
anyway, the breakdown happened when i was looking at the clock and noticed that i had spent an exorbitant amount of time and was still not getting IT. so, i started making dinner for the girls because i'm not home when they get home from school on tuesdays. try as i may to channel my inner June Cleaver, i just fail. i thought i had everything i needed for dinner (i've actually made a monthly menu and look at it when i go shopping on the weekend) but i didn't have what i needed. so, now i'm not only not understanding the reading, but i have to take time to run to the store to get one item that i need.
i have my momentary breakdown on my way to heb. "why can't you plan right?" "why can't you get your reading finsished on time?" "why did you think you could go to grad school?" i realize that some single, working moms have it tougher, but i'm not living their lives. i'm trying to live mine--without having these moments of negativity. my girls are sacrificing so that i can go to school. my little one wants to know when i'll be "done, done with school, like when will you stop going to school, mommy?"
i realize that nothing worth having comes easy. and, that when i do have my master's degree it will be MY triumph. but it will also be my sacrifice and that of my family's.
all i can think of in these times is that my girls will have one huge incentive to get through school while they are young and single, and that incentive will be my life. they will remember these days. i know that without a doubt. i'm the perfect example of what not to do. they will think: don't put your family through that. don't put your kids through that. and more importantly, what i hope they think is, don't put yourself through that.
alors, i have decided that the only way this mother is going to get through this semester is by abusing another mother. i will be using paper plates, plastic cups, plastic utensils, it will be a plastic/paper-palooza until i graduate. too bad i can't cook using disposable pots.
bonsoir, good people!!
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