Before I forget to say anything, let me mention how lucky I am to work with the staff I do! I'm in no way best friends with all of them, but there are many kindred spirits that I have the privilege to learn from. Our final staff meeting of the year was pretty tough because we were saying goodbye to two awesome teachers. I will totally miss Michele Boor and Zach Barnes! Michele is leaving to become a foster mother and Zach is leaving to pursue the West Coast. I admire their passion.
So, once that was over, I began cleaning my classroom with Pandora humming in the background. That lasted for a while until I ran around to try and tie up some loose ends. I got off focus and decided to head home to prepare for the beach trip!
I came home to mow the lawn for my first time, ever. It wasn't so bad. Granted I only did about 1/5 of our lawn (what Jon didn't do...) At least I didn't hurt myself or the lawn mower. I proceeded to pack, do laundry and attempt a nap before getting Jon from work.
By 6:30 we were on the road. Brit, our British GPS, told us we'd be getting there by 9:30. The drive wasn't so bad. We jammed to the Weez. That's our Jersey trip cd. Yay for mp3 format! By 9:40 we were walking into Jeff's family's beach house. We were welcomed by Zach Barnes, Josh Bergstein, his friend Alley, Jared Campbell, Kevin Varano, Eric Samuelson, his husband Gary, Paul Delpriore and of course Jeff. Upon entering the house, Zach declared Jon and I the "coolest couple". He had no specifics or elaborations, but it was enough for me. After all, Zach himself was declared the "coolest person Deb Hines knows" earlier- with that title, he's allowed to declare "cool".
The night was pretty chill. I chatted with Gary about travels, watched a mean horse shoe game, an even meaner Super Scrabble game (Frothy) and rounded out my night with a puke fest in the bathroom. Having been blessed with the experience of food poisoning before, I immediately knew I was being visted again by the food poison devil. Ask Jon, he came out from the depths of my stomach to chat. I'm sorry, but I have to make light of an awful situation. If Jon hadn't been there, I don't know what I would have done! I'm such a baby for pain and he stayed with me throughout my entire vomit session. He held my hair back and assured me I wasn't going to die, although that took a lot of convincing. He's absolutely amazing. After just under 2 hours of that, I passed out. When I woke up, I honestly didn't know where I was. I was so dehydrated/exhausted/out of it, but felt slightly better. My stomach was uneasy and to my own stupidity thought eating something would help... Half an hour after that decision, I was back on the toilet holding on to the garbage can for dear life. After that, it was about every 20 minutes that I was purging. I told Jon I couldn't take it anymore and asked him to take me to the hospital.
On the 10 minute drive to the hospital I puked twice. At this point, it was nothing but bile. It was absolutely miserable. I could barely walk into the hospital, I had become so weak. Thankfully I waited only about 15 minutes from walking into the door until I was in a bed and hooked up to a drip to re-hydrate me. I didn't puke again once I got into the hospital, but I wasn't feeling better. I had to really concentrate on my breathing because whenever it got too shallow, nausea came on strong. Anytime I turned my head too fast or moved anything too quickly, the nausea began. Thankfully after about an hour of that, I was given an anti-nausea shot. After about another hour, the doctor came in and prodded around my intestines and noted something abnormal and called for a catscan. He thought it might have been diverticulosis (something undesirable with your intestines that my dad was diagnosed with a few months ago..) Again, God love my dear Jonathan. He sat by me the whole time and chatted with me or sat quietly, without complaint, as I slept. Which is what happened for hours before I actually got the catscan. A final hour until the doctor came in to reveal that nothing was wrong, my guts were just that swollen from the food poisoning. So, after 6 hours in the hospital, we head back to the beach house.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by lobsters that had taken over the bodies of my co-workers. While we were locked inside hospital walls, they were all taking in the lovely day at the beach. I was extremely bitter. :-) I re-matched Jeff in Guitar Hero and beat him by like 300 points. I am now 2 for 2. The group decided to head to mini-golf. The group now being Mitza, Jared, Kevin, Eric, Gary, Alley, Josh and Jeff (and Jon and I). We split up into 2 groups of 5. It was alright. I'm quite miserable at mini-golf. I didn't come in last place ONLY because Jared was drunk. I'll take it. After that we went to a most amazing ice cream place that served ice cream on waffles. Although I was cautioned by the nurse to eat soup and bread for 24 hours, I had to try this! Thankfully it didn't kill me.
We went back to the house to chat it up a bit before Jon and I left for home. We agreed to split the drive up 1 and 1/2 hours each. I told him to drive first, so he could just crash. Unfortunately he ended up driving 2 hours because we were on bridges and turnpikes. Thankfully we made it home by 2 AM. We both crashed.
He woke up at 7:20 AM to be at work by 8. I slept until 12:15... I woke up and got ready for my Aunt Sue's cookout. I wasn't looking forward to being surrounded by amazing food that I was told I couldn't eat. I resorted to tasting everything and making Jon finish it all off. :-) It was nice catching up with my cousin Heather. She lives such an amazing life with the military. She's one of the only reasons I have hope in our government. After some gabbing, we went home because poor Jon was exhausted. We got home and began preparations for our little Memorial Day picnic. He crashed soon after 9, but I stayed up until almost midnight being nosey on the Facebook and MySpace.
I slept with the living room windows open so it wouldn't be stuffy in there and before drifting off, my imagination lead me to people robbing us. Right after I drifted off, I heard clanking and because that was the last thing on my mind, I was sure our house was being broken into! Fierce and mighty in my yellow underwear, I jumped up and leaned out of my bedroom door and demanded to know who was there! Now, I don't think I'm a dumb person; logic just eludes me. Obviously, and if I had given the situation a mere second or two of honest thought, I could have concluded it was my cousin Billy, who lives downstairs. After he confirmed I was crazy and my heart stopped beating in my throat, I fell asleep.
I woke up at about 7:50 AM to begin picnic preparations. I had to run to the store and to school. I was so excited to buy chicken quarters for 79 cents/lb at Giant! I had done my research and that was the best deal in town. I take pride in being a frugal shopper. I did what I had to do and ended up back at home by about 9:30 AM to finish the preparations.
We had a nice turn out: Mom (Jon's and my soon-to-be), his brother stopped out, Nan, Tim, Nikki and Scott, Strauss, Rach, Zach Vogel, and Oliver. It was beautiful today. We sat outside until everyone but Strauss and Tim left (Nan and Oliver hadn't arrived yet), then went in to play Settlers of Catan (amazing game!). Tim and Jon were very close most of the game and Strauss and I were along for the ride. Then Strauss and Tim left, and Oliver and Nan came. Jon, Oliver and myself indulged in another game. This time around, I won! :-)
Everyone left and Jon and I decided to chill on the couch and watch Night at the Museum. It was cute. For what it was, with the intended audience in mind, I'd give it a solid 7.5/10. Great kid's movie. It had a surprisingly amazing cast. It was funny. I loved Rexy and Dexter. The few historical facts that were incorporated were cool. The only oddity to me in the whole thing (what does this say about me...) was how great the relationship was between Ben Stiller and his ex in the movie. Just too unnatural. Things should probably be that great between people, but the first scene where they were all together, I thought to myself, this had got to be his sister... How often do you see exes kiss each other in greeting?! So yeah, other than that... Cute. I'm glad the loser dad was able to prove himself to his son. Would have been nice if fantasy wasn't in the mix... and a more realistic means of redemption was sought, but be it far from me to attack fantasy. Speaking of which, I was told Stardust is great. That will be on my summer movie list!
I digress... a lot. I need to be working on goals for tomorrow's meeting. I'm stuck between two worlds. The world of summer and the world of wrapping up with the rest of the district. I hope to come to peace with this at 4 PM on Friday, June 5th after my last summer enrichment class ends and I'm heading to Philly to chill with my Beckster, then heading to New York/Canada to get Gram on Monday.
Baby is jamming out to Paramore's "Misery Business"... and I mean jamming. He even included a kick and a full 360 guitar arm strum, which is why he is the love of my life. :-)
Alright, off to do teachery things. :-)
5.21.2009
Playing for Change
I totally need to go to bed, but had to share this! I was being super nosey and checking out other blogs. I can't take credit for finding this, but hey, when you find a good thing, PASS IT ON!! :-)
Highs and Lows
Today was a busy day filled with some really fun times and a really somber one.
It was the student's official last day and we spent it at the Sports Emporium in Mechanicsburg. Before that, I spent some time chatting with Lori Jo and learning of a fun new website (that showed me how few presidents I knew- tisk, tisk!), while I was really supposed to be in homeroom taking attendance! Whoops! I'll get this professionalism thing down sooner or later! Once I got up there, I learned of another great website that only comes from working with teenagers. Free music!
By 8:45 the buses were being loaded and I was on my way in the car, since I would be leaving early. I got there and hung out with Shizz and her hubby as we waited for the buses to arrive. The kids love Shizz and vice versa. It was so powerful to see 2 buses unload and just about every child that got off that bus ran up to Shizz and hugged her. These kids need so much more than academics from us. I want my students to know they are loved like that! Personal goal for next year!
I digress! For the first hour, I stood around and chatted with various teachers and students. We decided it would be fun to play mini-golf, so we did! Lori Jo, Anna, Maryann, Desiree, Jeff (for a few holes) and I began the Castle Course. I had a few good rounds, but no hole-in-ones. The only one of us that got one was Lori Jo! The course was absolutely beautiful. The landscaping was gorgeous and the props were awesome and not tacky. It totally gets my stamp of approval! :-)
After playing only 18 of our 36 paid-for-holes, we had to leave for the funeral. Here's where the day turns bittersweet. Thankfully I had two wonderful ladies with me.
Rosamia's baby's funeral was held in a quaint little church in Hershey. When we got there, it was just around 12:40. I was texted by Rosamia to be there by 1, so I thought we were good on time. It turns out that 1:00 was when the families were there for the viewing. It was an open casket, which is what began the tears. Following that up with a hug from Rosamia pushed me over the edge. I wasn't sure who was consoling who in our embrace. After that we went to sit in the sanctuary to let the family grieve together. We had no problem filling up an hour with chit chat about a wide array of topics. I love listening to both of the ladies I was with. They are both so well- lived people with admirable attitudes about life and such giving spirits. I have learned so much from both of them.
At 2:00 the funeral started. It was done in both English and Spanish. The service didn't strike me in any way UNTIL I hear Rosy sobbing after a friend read a poem she wrote. I almost felt the need to grab my chest to try and push my heart back together! That was the roughest part. As she exited, she continued to sob and nearly collapsed in her boyfriend's arms. Talk about heart-wrenching. We went downstairs to say hi to some former students and I wanted to see DeeDee. We left soon after. I felt bad not saying goodbye to Rosy, but she was obviously preoccupied.
I leave you now to watch Celtic Women: Greatest Journey. Having a father that was adopted and never cared to find out where he came from allows you to dream of your ancestry. I like to believe that I am descendant of an Irish Queen. :-)
Final thought:
"In life, there are more questions than there are answers."
It was the student's official last day and we spent it at the Sports Emporium in Mechanicsburg. Before that, I spent some time chatting with Lori Jo and learning of a fun new website (that showed me how few presidents I knew- tisk, tisk!), while I was really supposed to be in homeroom taking attendance! Whoops! I'll get this professionalism thing down sooner or later! Once I got up there, I learned of another great website that only comes from working with teenagers. Free music!
By 8:45 the buses were being loaded and I was on my way in the car, since I would be leaving early. I got there and hung out with Shizz and her hubby as we waited for the buses to arrive. The kids love Shizz and vice versa. It was so powerful to see 2 buses unload and just about every child that got off that bus ran up to Shizz and hugged her. These kids need so much more than academics from us. I want my students to know they are loved like that! Personal goal for next year!
I digress! For the first hour, I stood around and chatted with various teachers and students. We decided it would be fun to play mini-golf, so we did! Lori Jo, Anna, Maryann, Desiree, Jeff (for a few holes) and I began the Castle Course. I had a few good rounds, but no hole-in-ones. The only one of us that got one was Lori Jo! The course was absolutely beautiful. The landscaping was gorgeous and the props were awesome and not tacky. It totally gets my stamp of approval! :-)
After playing only 18 of our 36 paid-for-holes, we had to leave for the funeral. Here's where the day turns bittersweet. Thankfully I had two wonderful ladies with me.
Rosamia's baby's funeral was held in a quaint little church in Hershey. When we got there, it was just around 12:40. I was texted by Rosamia to be there by 1, so I thought we were good on time. It turns out that 1:00 was when the families were there for the viewing. It was an open casket, which is what began the tears. Following that up with a hug from Rosamia pushed me over the edge. I wasn't sure who was consoling who in our embrace. After that we went to sit in the sanctuary to let the family grieve together. We had no problem filling up an hour with chit chat about a wide array of topics. I love listening to both of the ladies I was with. They are both so well- lived people with admirable attitudes about life and such giving spirits. I have learned so much from both of them.
At 2:00 the funeral started. It was done in both English and Spanish. The service didn't strike me in any way UNTIL I hear Rosy sobbing after a friend read a poem she wrote. I almost felt the need to grab my chest to try and push my heart back together! That was the roughest part. As she exited, she continued to sob and nearly collapsed in her boyfriend's arms. Talk about heart-wrenching. We went downstairs to say hi to some former students and I wanted to see DeeDee. We left soon after. I felt bad not saying goodbye to Rosy, but she was obviously preoccupied.
I leave you now to watch Celtic Women: Greatest Journey. Having a father that was adopted and never cared to find out where he came from allows you to dream of your ancestry. I like to believe that I am descendant of an Irish Queen. :-)
Final thought:
"In life, there are more questions than there are answers."
5.20.2009
Because of you!
Welcome to my page! I was inspired by a co-worker today to finally create a blog, so here we are. You can access her page by clicking my title, I belive. Still getting used to this.
My hopes and dreams for this page are to share my thoughts on music, art, movies, food, relationships, and well, pretty much anything that strikes my fancy.
My fiance', Jonathan (affectionately called Baby, who is currently rocking out to "On the Road Again" on Guitar Hero: World Tour to promote our band, TheHeys), suggests for my opening post to piss and moan about our disappointment with Angels and Demons (the movie). Now, I'll give my take on things. I didn't read the book, so my disappointment truthfully stems from how much it didn't stack up to The DaVinci Code (movie). I'm so completely gullible, which is why I'm a perfect candidate for folklore, urban legends and conspiracy theories. The obvious typically alludes me as well, making the most predictable movies fair game. Having noted those two things about my movie-going personality, Angels and Demons was a total disappointment.
*SPOILER ALERT* Do not continue if you have not seen the movie and/or might be upset if you discover some of the plot!!! ...
So yeah, as soon as Ewan McGregor walked on the stage, I knew he was the bad guy. I can NEVER predict that stuff. I'm normally an edge-of-the-seater through the cheesiest of romantic comedies! Not only did I know he was the bad guy, I knew he was going to be manipulative and play the victim. That disappointed me. I wanted the creepy, stiff old man to be the bad guy with all my might! Honest! Jon's biggest complaint, as others who have read the book, is that they leave out so much and totally change the events and underlying plot. Total bummer.
Okay, in my attempts to be a more positive person, because complaining comes all too naturally for me, I'll highlight the good parts. I totally loved the history of the Illuminati that was infused along with the Catholic church. History never ceases to amaze me. It doesn't take much, to be honest, but how things were/are/can be so secretive to the public realm amazes me. Being so gullable (with a hint of paranoia at times), I sometimes wonder if someone is yanking my leg as we speak! The government has always hidden things from the people. Most probably for the greater good, but nonetheless, it gets you thinking. I digress!! (As I often will, I apologize in advance!) Okay, so good points... the main chick was totally cute. Tom was looking pretty good too. The pool scene was neat. Wonder if that was really him swimming?...
Enough of the mushy gushy. Overall, on a scale of 1-10, this movie gets a 5.7.
Tomorrow I am attending the funeral of one of my former student's baby that passed this past weekend. That will be tough. I never got to meet the little guy. Lord be with the family during this hard time! Especially Rosy and the father!
R.I.P. Corbin
Tomorrow also marks the final day of school for our students. Friday is our last mandated day. We are going to the Sports Emporium in Mechanicsburg and the negative Nancy in me is not looking forward to this at all. Maybe it's because I have a terrible headache and the thought of screaming teenagers and flashing lights right now might kill me.
So, I think this will suffice for now. Good night!
Upcoming May/June events (not in order):
*Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns through a school summer book club
*Canada/New York trip with gram
*Gram staying with me for numerous weeks
*Vacation Bible School
*Two summer graduate classes
*Teaching my summer enrichment class: Career Explorations
*Appreciating the decision to postpone the wedding until next June
My hopes and dreams for this page are to share my thoughts on music, art, movies, food, relationships, and well, pretty much anything that strikes my fancy.
My fiance', Jonathan (affectionately called Baby, who is currently rocking out to "On the Road Again" on Guitar Hero: World Tour to promote our band, TheHeys), suggests for my opening post to piss and moan about our disappointment with Angels and Demons (the movie). Now, I'll give my take on things. I didn't read the book, so my disappointment truthfully stems from how much it didn't stack up to The DaVinci Code (movie). I'm so completely gullible, which is why I'm a perfect candidate for folklore, urban legends and conspiracy theories. The obvious typically alludes me as well, making the most predictable movies fair game. Having noted those two things about my movie-going personality, Angels and Demons was a total disappointment.
*SPOILER ALERT* Do not continue if you have not seen the movie and/or might be upset if you discover some of the plot!!! ...
So yeah, as soon as Ewan McGregor walked on the stage, I knew he was the bad guy. I can NEVER predict that stuff. I'm normally an edge-of-the-seater through the cheesiest of romantic comedies! Not only did I know he was the bad guy, I knew he was going to be manipulative and play the victim. That disappointed me. I wanted the creepy, stiff old man to be the bad guy with all my might! Honest! Jon's biggest complaint, as others who have read the book, is that they leave out so much and totally change the events and underlying plot. Total bummer.
Okay, in my attempts to be a more positive person, because complaining comes all too naturally for me, I'll highlight the good parts. I totally loved the history of the Illuminati that was infused along with the Catholic church. History never ceases to amaze me. It doesn't take much, to be honest, but how things were/are/can be so secretive to the public realm amazes me. Being so gullable (with a hint of paranoia at times), I sometimes wonder if someone is yanking my leg as we speak! The government has always hidden things from the people. Most probably for the greater good, but nonetheless, it gets you thinking. I digress!! (As I often will, I apologize in advance!) Okay, so good points... the main chick was totally cute. Tom was looking pretty good too. The pool scene was neat. Wonder if that was really him swimming?...
Enough of the mushy gushy. Overall, on a scale of 1-10, this movie gets a 5.7.
Tomorrow I am attending the funeral of one of my former student's baby that passed this past weekend. That will be tough. I never got to meet the little guy. Lord be with the family during this hard time! Especially Rosy and the father!
R.I.P. Corbin
Tomorrow also marks the final day of school for our students. Friday is our last mandated day. We are going to the Sports Emporium in Mechanicsburg and the negative Nancy in me is not looking forward to this at all. Maybe it's because I have a terrible headache and the thought of screaming teenagers and flashing lights right now might kill me.
So, I think this will suffice for now. Good night!
Upcoming May/June events (not in order):
*Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns through a school summer book club
*Canada/New York trip with gram
*Gram staying with me for numerous weeks
*Vacation Bible School
*Two summer graduate classes
*Teaching my summer enrichment class: Career Explorations
*Appreciating the decision to postpone the wedding until next June
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