Um... aspects.

So I decided that New Year's Resolutions were dumb! And lame! And I promptly defenestrated mine in favor of simple goals. I will still run 500 miles! I just have more time to do it. And since I ran 2 more miles today, that leaves... um... 480 to go.

Yes, I slacked off. But in my defense, things got NUTS over here, ya'll. Apparently cold air and I don't get along, plus bouts of allergy attacks, plus play practice every night and some ENTIRE DAYS spent getting ready to perform a 45 minute show, plus, you know, saving the world and orphans and little lost kittens.... running kind of fell to the wayside. As did the cookery. And the photography. I'll pick up the photo-taking again, but I'll just try to hit the magic number of 365, the time limit is again out the window. The cooking thing? Yeah, it's just not going to happen right now. I will at some point become more interested in cooking. Just not right now.

In other news, teaching is going to be the death of me. I am tired of certain... um... aspects. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy teaching. I especially like seeing my students improve in their understanding and use of the English language. Some of them have made incredible amounts of progress in just the few months that I've taught them and that is unbelievably rewarding. It's just the other... um... aspects that sort of bug me. Particularly because they're... um... aspects that I was pretty far removed from when I was teaching overseas. Those... um... aspects didn't really bug me then, and they didn't really bug me for the first semester of this year, but this grading period has been rife with drama and I'm certainly losing my patience in trying to deal with it all. I see why teachers get such a long summer vacation because I'm anticipating having the chance to unwind. Two months of not feeling attacked, provoked or belittled by certain... um.. aspects of my job? It'll be just what I need to ready myself for the next onslaught.

It's a battlefield, my dears.

On another note, gasoline prices have gotten me way the heck down, man.

I shouldn't run so close to bedtime because then I lose my staying-tired momentum.

I have eight hundred billion plans I'm making for this week, this month, this summer, this next school year. Computerized lesson plans! Detailed project descriptions! Reworking the order in which I assign certain things! A winter drama production! Everyone assures me that the first year of teaching is the most difficult, so I'm hoping with my new and improved methodologyisms, I'll make the second year smooth like butter.

Like butter, people!

Dreams last so long

I had a dream about work last night in which I was in a class teeming with kids, and it was madness. I'd look up to see one group of kids with their phones out and when I was taking up their phones, I'd look up and see another group of kids with their MP3 players on and I'd have to go take those up, then I saw a trio of students with navigational systems and I had to go take those up, too. THEN, a couple boxes of pastries and donuts got delivered to my class and they were there for something, so I had to save them but the next time I looked, all these kids were eating them and I had to go up and down the aisle looking for marks of chocolate on their hands or faces or papers so I could write those kids up, and I ended up rubbing a chocolate covered cinnamon roll into one boy's face, kind of like a naughty puppy. Plus, the whole time I was trying to shout at the kids to lecture them or to, at the very least, get their attention, and my voice was gone. I could barely produce a whisper.

It was horrible.

And pretty easy to interpret.

Clearly, I am obsessed with the idea of protecting kids from childhood obesity.


Also, my pic update will come tomorrow, and I didn't really cook this weekend, unless you count my boyfriend (it feels weird to type that, but it's the proper name for the guy) cooking a fancy chicken breast stuffed with ricotta and spinach, while I took half the ingredients for a chocolate mousse and mixed them with some flour and an egg and threw it into the oven because how bad could it be? Turns out that the answer is pretty bad. It's still on my kitchen counter.

On second that, that totally counts as cooking.

Also, I've run a grand total of 6 more miles this week. At this rate, I'm only going to hit 300 miles by the end of the year. But you know what? I don't mind.

My belated weekly progress report

Yes, I meant to type this up this weekend, but I as busy. It was an eventful weekend. A lot of stuff happened! So I kind of phone it in, uploaded my pics for the week and called it a night. I didn't even get to mention that I cooked my weekly meal--kimchi bokeumbap--and that I did some running--6 miles (again, I'm building up quite a deficit). I don't really feel that bad about not making it to the proper number of miles. At this point I'm 8 short. But that's still 12 miles traveled. I'm not going to worry about it until I'm like 50 miles short. Which, at the rate that I'm going, will be in about 10 weeks. So the end of March will be the point at which I decide whether or not I should drop the whole running-500-miles-in-a-year, because who knows? I might make it but I might not and if  I do then it's great and if I don't then that whole idea was a stupid one anyway. That's kind of the way life goes.

Yesterday was MLK Jr. day, which the students got to observe but the teachers got to work. I don't really mind staff days like that, though, since they give me time to catch up on grading, or update my class assignments or clean my desk. My desk is a war zone. It's nuts, too, because I don't really have anything on it. Not anything that's not necessary. I don't have any plants or pictures or.. um.. pencil holders? on my desk. Just books and papers and pens and things that I really need but ohgeez, they take up a lot of room. I don't think I'll ever be super organized like some people. The most I can hope for is to be organized... chaotically.

Anyway, tomorrow I get to skip my last class of the day for a One-Act Play trip to the costume shop. I'm pretty pumped about this because.. well. Let's say that my last class of the day is an exciting and fun challenge but you know what? Somedays, I don't want a challenge. Tomorrow is one of those days. Thursday and Friday will probably be pretty normal, with the exception of my certification-observer-guy coming in on Friday. He'll get to watch me administer a test. I should probably think of something else to do.

Also, I've decided I want to read Gone with the Wind. Again. I don't know why I like Scarlett O'Hara so much. She's a terrible person, but then again.. she's not. She's determined and mean and thoughtless and sometimes I think that I relate to her pretty well, but then again, I never say things like "Fiddle dee dee".

First I've got to make my way through The Great Gatsby. Again. I actually am starting to like the book. At least a little. I'll probably return to hating it once I get past chapter 5 or so. I also totally want to buy this print and hang it up in my classroom but I'd probably have to creatively censor it somehow. Maybe I'll just buy it and hang it up in my kitchen.

Finally, this update is pretty fragmented. I blame the endorphin rush.

Our ghosts will wander all of the water.

I kind of panicked about my next bout with running, considering my awesome allergy attack that wasn't an allergy attack but I don't have a better word for it--itchy palms and scratchy throat syndrome? Nah-- that occurred last time. But today I managed without a hitch and got 3.5 miles closer to my goal. Which isn't much closer at all, considering I still have.. um.. 494 miles to go.

Though, to be fair, I was unbelievably lazy this week. I blame it on returning to work after a two week holiday. The students felt it to a much greater degree than I did, so maybe their grumping was contagious and that's why I made so many (completely effective) excuses and didn't do as much as I had planned.

Technically, however, as far as non-resolutions go, I'm still doing alright. I got my pictures in for each day... they're coming up if you don't believe me, and I got my dinner made and tomorrow I'm going to cook kimchi bokkeumbap because it's easy and I already have all the ingredients so I don't have to go to the store and buy anything. And I'll just go an extra mile for the next four weeks and that will even it out? Or maybe I'll go the extra mile for the LAST four weeks of the year so it seems like I'm building up to it? I mean, that'll give me something to think about.

Furthermore, next weekend I'll get a visit from an old war buddy of mine. That's gonna be exciting. Expect wacky hijinx to ensue, folks. Expect it.

Day 4: Spicy Tofu and Breaded Zucchini

Day 5: A closeup of my Rilakkuma pencil case.

Day 6: I like oranges.

Day 7: Friday! The scenery on the drive from work.

Day 8: This is my owl pillow. He doesn't have a name.

I'm a nerd, reason 1

My non-resolutions ended up having three parts.

Part 1: Photography (Project 365)
I've already gotten a fair start on this, and have taken a picture every day for (gasp!) four whole days. Like I mentioned before, I'm going to put them up here randomly and today is not one of the days that I want to put a picture up because of a reason that I will explain in a second.

Wait for it, it is very interesting. To me. Kind of.

Part 2: Cooking (I haven't thought of a catch-phrase for this yet.)
I realized how lazy I'd gotten about cooking after about my third trip to the grocery store in which I only purchased microwave pizzas and Lean Cuisines. Cooking is fun, and I'm not a terrible cook. I can follow a recipe at least. For the most part. I do tend to skip parts of alter ingredients, but that's all in the name of science. So I decided it would be good to create a home-cooked meal once a week, and microwaving broccoli in one of those vegetable steamer bags wouldn't count. This week, with some assistance, I created a lovely kimchi jiggae, spiced tofu and breaded zucchini. I took a pic. It'll go up here this week. It's like killing two birds with one blog update. 

Those vegetable steamer bags are amazing, though. Just for the record.

Part 3: Running (500 miles)

I have been running pretty regularly for the past two months or so. So I decided to up the stakes a bit and set a goal for myself. Then I wrestled with how high of a bar I wanted, because honestly, if it's too daunting, I'll just stop and if it's too easy then it'd be kind of embarrassing to even worry about. So I decided to try for 10 miles a week....ish. I want to have run 500 miles by December 31st, 2011. That's not too much of a stretch, plus it has a nice ring to it. I like numbers in multiples of five.


Well I told you all that so I could tell you all (ya'll) this. I finished running today. 2.5 miles. That brings my grand total for the year to 2.5 miles. Haha. I'm kind of a procrastinator. But! That's not the point. I finished running and I noticed that the palms of my hands felt really itchy. And then my nose started running. Then I started coughing and wheezing. Now I feel like I'm going to die. So I googled "itchy palms after running" and it turns out that this happens to people sometimes. I am allergic to running*. It's kind of like how I'm allergic to being outside. I officially have the nerdiest allergies in the world, guys. I mean, allergies are inherently a nerd sort of thing, but I am taking this to an entirely new level.

This might be a sign. I should change my projects completely. Running 500 miles? Heck no. I should be playing 500 hours of video games. Are there 500 pokemon yet? Maybe that should be my goal.

Gotta catch 'em all--

Pokemon!


*I am not really allergic to running. 90% sure. I think it's a fluke, but I did take some Benadryl so I'll probably pass out soon. My life is exciting, people.