Baby, It's Cold Outside....

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and it better since it's only 4 days away. For Sacramento, looking like Christmas has become:

- heavier rain than usual...giving the facade of snow while squinting at a streetlight at an angle sometime around 10:15 at night

-needing either some sort of heavy alcoholic beverage or a zanex to brave any department store

-rolling your eyes at the hoozy girls who refuse to accept the temperature and still flaunt about in clothes made for a 3 yr old child to wear in the summer time

-watching old christmas cartoons and movies(gotta love the 24 hrs of "A Christmas Story' starting Christmas Eve)

-the need to bake/cook and create holiday treats and decorations like some sort of addiction. christmas is my crack!

-an overwhelming desire to make friends with strangers. it's the oddest thing how during the holidays you can talk to a stranger and you both end up wishing each other a "merry christmas". however, do not try this in august, you may get a creeped out stranger and the finger

-karaoking at The Turtle every weekend. something about cold weather makes me want to be indoors singing to 80s soft rock or 90s hip hop

-coats/boots/scarves

-being blessed by family and friends who make my heart smile!!!!

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanukkah

Happy Kwanzaa

An Early Christmas Present...(This is for you Lauren)

She's Back!!! And better than ever. Try as you may to hate her...you know you can't get that "Womanizer" tune out of your head. And have you heard "Circus"? I die!!! I'm so proud of Brit right now. She seems to really be picking up the pieces. Even good ol' Brit can admit that she has made some mistakes though(some? understatement!). On her documentary on MTV, she even stated "I'm a smart person, what was I thinking?!?!"
If anyone can give us a killer comeback...it's gonna be Ms. Spears! Through all of her crazy marriages, mishaps with children, head shaving, public lack of panty flashing, she still seems to be able to return with a vengeance to our radios and arenas. I will definitely admit that her live performances have been underwhelming lately, but I'm sure that she's just scared. She's faced a lot of scrutiny from critics and fans. Don't worry Brit...it's okay! I mean...how many mothers of two have you seen that look like and dance like Brit? I'm guessing, not many.
I'm sure within a few months, she'll do something shameful that will leave us all gasping. But for now, I'm gonna celebrate her in her success and support my pal Brit.

I am addicted to gossip...

...I've probably know this for awhile(and I'm not proud of it), but it became crystal clear when I was thinking of the website I spend the most time on. On both my computer and my phone, one can always find me on perezhilton.com. For those of you who don't know this website(shame on you!), it's a celebrity gossip blog...and I can't get enough of it. I guess I just like to be in the know of gossip.

This also takes place in my own classroom. My students are always coming into my room and telling me the latest gossip ex: who likes who, who is asking who out, who plays too much video games, who got dumped, you know all those precious little treasures. The latest of all the gossip has involved one of my 6th grade boys and an 8th grade girl who have recently been dating. (It's been talk amongst the teachers that this 8th grader must OBVIOUSLY be desperatge). After asking out this girl, which involved him being dared to do it, then severals boys dragging him at lunch and MAKING him ask this girl out. She finally said "yes" and this little 6th grade boy was in bliss. This was all until....the principal MADE them break-up. It's kind of sad, since their relationship was so blissfully innocent. Seriously, the most they did together was play foosball together before and after school(and foosball is not any sort of sexual inuendo to anything).

This heartbroken little boy comes into my class yesterday and sadly looks at me "Ms.Dolin, did you hear what happened?" Surprised that I actually hadn't heard, I said "no, sweetie are you okay." "Jessica and I broke up" he stated holding back adolescent tears. He began to walk back to his desk, but turned around and asked me with what seemed to be a fresh tear forming in his eye "Can you please not play any music today about love or kissing in the rain, I really don't think I can handle it today?"

I'm not gonna lie, I was shocked that a 6th grader could even be heartbroken, but this one was indeed. I wasn't even sure what to say to make him feel better, so I just told him how he was better off because that girl has frizzy hair. Real helpful huh? After dealing with that whole drama, I sat and reflected on how love and relationships used to be so innocent and simple. You date, you break up. No REAL emotional loss, no REAL physical connection made. When you get older and you break-up you not only lose a boyfriend, you lose a best friend, lover and sometimes a home if you were living together. When did love and life get so complicated?

I look at these kids and I'm a little envious of a breakup where the only thing you lose is a foosball partner!


p.s. Without Perez Hilton, how would anyone know about individuals off of their medicine that have been given access to a camera. example given:

10.5 school days left...

...until Christmas Break! Thank the Lord!I'm not sure if my kids are just still hyper from being gone for a week during Thanksgiving Break, but they are literally driving me crazy!!!! One of my friends who is a kindergarten teacher has a someone "special" child who cannot pay attention and is always just staring off into space and never usually makes sense in class. Well, I have one of those, but all grown up.
One of my students is always doing what he isn't supposed to be doing. If I tell them to get into groups for a project, he's standing in the corner twirling around and singing...and this kid is in HIGH SCHOOL!!!! Is it rude to suggest he be tested as a special needs child? Although sometimes I feel like he's just stoned out of his mind. Either way, it's pretty obnoxious.
On a lighter note...I encountered quite a scary experience the other day. My friend Cim and I were walking back to his house after a night of shenanigans when he happened to see a man with a cane. Cim yells at this fellow "hey bojangles, looking good." Well, needless to say this man did not appreciate my friend's sense of humor. He started running after us at a surprising speed for a man with a cane. We actually had to beging sprinting to get away from him. After flying at full speed into his house, we finally were safe. Although, I'm still a little scared that the creeper saw which house we went into. But, nothing that a "Big Love" marathon can't fix! If any of you haven't watched that show. I suggest you do. I kind of have a crush on Bill Paxton now.

Thank You Lenscrafters....

So, the economy sucks. Everyone knows that. What everyone doesn't know is that sometimes your old job gets sued and you get a nice settlement from that. So, thank you Lenscrafters for not giving it's employees their lunch breaks and 10 minutes breaks which are legally required, for now I was able to afford the tattoo that I have been wanting.

really? november already? hot damn....

Today during lunch, while hiding in an obscure corner so no student or parent could fine us, a fellow teacher was counting down how many days left we have of the semester. I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little panicked at how fast this year has gone by. But...I was also relived at the fact that my first semester of teaching is almost over.
I forgot that once Halloween is over...the year basically flies by in hyperspeed. Halloween was quite eventful for me. I was the only girl in a group of guys that went out...yet we were all dressed as girls. I was surrounded by a retro Bette Midler, Britney Spears(circa her vma performance of "i'm a slave for you" including large yellow fake snake)and a crazy 7 foot nurse that had eaten Amy Winehouse(words could never paint an accurate description of this). We all headed out to our favorite club to dance the night away and watch Cim enter a costume contest. The night turned out to be a gathering of drag queens of all shapes and sizes and then basically men in underwear. After a couple of Tokyo Teas Cim was completely out of commission and I had reached my max of being surrounded by men covered in glitter who had not a bit of interest in me...minus running into a guy I dated and then running away as fast as my bootsie heels could take me.
All in all, after the rush of pumpkin carving and clever costumes-it's Thanksgiving. Before you know it, the turkey and pumpkin pie is all cleaned up and the stress of Christmas shopping and baking holiday goodies has once again overtaken our lives. Is it strange that I'm already stressed out about Christmas?
Well...that was a lot of random thoughts glued together. I'll leave you with this last little nugget. I was going over with my 6th graders the importance of voting. We discussed what makes a good leader and they have to come up with a campaign of who they think should be president-not including the current candidates. It was pretty hilarious to see the hodge podge of characters these kids would want to run. These individual included:
me(kids really know how to suck up)
God(purely because the girl said people wouldn't be able to vote against him)
the Jonas Brothers(barf)
their moms' (awwwww....so cute)
and Taylor Swift(I'm not exactly sure who this is, but from what I've gathered it's another talentless blonde who has worked her way into the music industry)

You Know You're A Teacher....

I discovered some odd quirks about myself that have only emerged as I have started teaching. Things about myself that surprise and disgust me all at the same time. I've compiled a list to help you understand the sick and twisted mind of a teacher:
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A TEACHER:
-When you get excited at Target while noticing that there are new colors in white board markers which you have never seen before...especially neon colors!
-When you can't wait to sit and gossip with the other teachers about rumors you heard some of the students talking about
-When you compare with other teachers the love matches you've made in your head amongst the students...and how you've assigned them to sit by each other in order to make your love connection complete
-When you hate the sound of your own last name
-When every other sentence out of your mouth is "What did I JUST say?"
-When you find yourself counting to 3 more than you ever did in elementary school
-When "shut up" and "stupid" have entered into the "bad word" zone...even though the second you leave school, you drop four letter words like they're running out of style
-When you look forward to Friday so you can pop in a movie, call it "visual learning" and catch up on grading

Oh...and the number one way you can tell you're a teacher...
When your favorite day of the week is Thursday, when you and the other teachers go to a local bar for tacos(the best in the world), drinks and venting about students!!!

I hope you're all having an amazing week!

Tattle Tales...

So...I've decided to rekindle my love for writing. I also realized that I haven't blogged since I have become a teacher, which is crazy because there is so much to write about. I've now been teaching High School/Elementary Spanish, 6th Grade Math and 6th Grade Art for about 2 months. It has been quite the adventure and I feel as if I learn a new lesson everyday from the kids...or the other teachers. The biggest lesson I've learned is that kids ranging from preschool to seniors in high school will do ANYTHING for candy. I have turned my 6th graders from yelling, chaotic, disturbed children into respectful, peaceful and attentive learners...all by waving some candy in front of their face. There are also some high schoolers who beg me to wipe my white boards or clean trash off of my floor for candy.
I've also decided that I need to read much more than I have been lately. This was encouraged as I recently finished "Running With Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. It's quite possibly the most akwardly funny piece of literature I have ever read. There were moments that I found myself laughing out loud and then wondering, "hmmm...should I actually be laughing at this?" I encourage anyone with an appetite for something funny to dive into this nugget that's pregnant with satirical wit.
Well, I think that is about it for now. Off to do some last minute lesson planning and start reading "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer...thanks to a suggestion from Lauren!

burnt out...

i've decided that this monday has set the work tone for the rest of the week-and that ain't good! today was one of those days at work where i left thinking "do i really need this job? do i get paid enough to deal with this garbage? is this really what i want to be doing with my life?" and even if the answer is "no" to all of those questions, the answer is "yes" to an even more important question like "do i need to pay my bills?" oh growing up...when did you become so hard to do?
i've been trying to be more positive about things...especially after my last blog. i've taken up whistling again. last year i decided to dedicate one year to becoming an expert whistler. i whistled everyday for 15 minutes. well, that only lasted about 3 months. i guess i'll never be a professional whistler! oh well, it still makes me very happy to whistle. because honestly...can you frown when you're whistling? i dare you to try. i've also taken up word searches. and when i say "taken up" i should have said i've caught the disease of addiction to word searches. nothing is quite as rewarding as finding that last word on the list and feeling like a real champ. i don't even care if that sounds freakishly nerdy.
my last idea to make my life more exciting and positive is finding little dive places to hang out with friends. this last weekend we discovered a little nugget of delight known as "laurie's little shack by the railroad track." i understand that the establishment's title is a little wordy, but it is great! the regulars at this little hot spot included 50-60 year old woman who thought they were pretty darn sexy in their much too tight shorts and way too low tops, as well as an older gentleman lacking teeth and sporting a leopard print bathrobe. we sang a little karaoke(bootylicious in particular) and we made friends with some very interesting people. i love the crazy in depth conversations had with strangers. so, i'm crossing my fingers that i get through this week without any sort of meltdown!

late night thoughts...

as i sit here just trying to fall asleep amid the torment of my allergies, i feel the need to put some of my thoughts down where i can see them. as of late i have been pondering the age old questions-"what am i doing with my life?' i understand that everyone asks this questions, but i often have been stressed out about many recent happenings in my life. my luck and judgement with relationships has been more than upsetting lately. i've come up with a new motto for my life: "my life is a shitfield." please understand that i say this with an air of humor.
in this way, should something upsetting happen, well of course it happens, because my life is shitfield. haha. i'm hoping that i am coming to a turning point soon and that this turning point puts my life back into the upswing of things. i've recently made some decisions about my education and personal life, hopefully both of these decisions will do nothing but grow me into a better person.
in another frame of mind i have been in lately is that of somewhat avoiding church and any religion lately. i can't remember the last time that i went to church and i'm seriously doing some murky, in-depth soul searching. i have been struggling so much with the idea behind religion(who in their 20's hasn't at some point?)and what it's real purpose is. maybe i've just become a cynic, or my eyes have finally been opened. either way, it's a hot button topic with me lately. i keep saying to myself over and over that this is a phase that i'm going through, but i have been wondering if that statement holds any truth, or if i just say it to myself and others to justify my "out-there" thoughts. who knows? and sometimes i think "who cares?"