yes, sir, mr. police man

Today was an adventure!

I went outside, decided it was a beautiful day and that I should do something to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. So I called my friend and we determined that we should spend the afternoon exploring an intriguing abandoned insane asylum. We gathered video camera, warm clothes and sturdy shoes to head out. As we passed the large, posted 'no trespassing' sign we decided it would be best to park the car in the back, but didn't really think much of the consequences this adventure could impart. We took some time to explore the outer limits of the building, an impressive brick structure, 4 stories high, with barred and covered windows in most areas. There were large piles of debris accumulating in some areas- air vents, pipes, bricks and wood - seperated and rising several stories above the ground. The brick pile happened to lead directly to an open window, so we strapped the camera on carefully and scrambled up into the building. It is certainly run down- paint peeling, wires hanging haphazardly and no doors or windows remaining- but we still got a sense of what it had been like. The rooms were cramped, and would have been far more so with furniture in them. One room had debris piled outside the window completely blocking it- this seemed to depict exactly the trapped feeling someone in an insane asylum would have. There was also an avalanche of bricks that was precariously positioned in one staircase, I could imagine all too easily kicking one brick out of the way and the entire building coming crashing through that doorway. When our camera battery died and we decided to leave, I came down the brick pile first. My friend jokingly asked if her car was still there, and when I poked my head around the corner to check, I saw it was, with a police officer looking into it! We played innocent girls just looking to take some pictures of the pretty buildings and managed to get off with a warning. He asked if we knew trespassing there was an arrestable offense (which I certainly hadn't thought deeply about) and ran our licenses to make sure that there was no warrant out for our arrest. Then he told us not to come back, and if we did, not to get caught, because the warning was filed and the next time we would get arrested.

Usually I hate playing the helpless girl card, and I disprove it on a regular basis, but once again it came in useful that with my brightly colored hat and innocent smile I look about as harmless as a butterfly. I hope warnings don't come up on CORIs, although it would be fun to explain.

what happened?

Its already Thursday, my vacation has slipped by and I'm not sure where it went. I think I did productive things, maybe. I still haven't thought about what I'm going to teach next week though, I might need to get on that.

My mother is worrying that all of the jobs will be gone if I don't start applying immediately, so I finally decided to sit down and pick a few states. The criteria that I started with - trees, four seasons, my license applies and near a major airport - didn't get me very far. Then I realized if I plan to stay for more than just next year, I need to be able to adopt in that state. That certainly did an amazing job of narrowing down my list, but it left me feeling far more frustrated than accomplished. The two states I've already lived in are some of my best options, but I think I need to get out. If I really want independence, it'll have to be Oregon, which seems like a really cool state, and I'll be near the redwood forest, which was where I wanted to go several months ago. If I settle for kinda far away, VT, NH and NY (not in the city) are my best options. Yay for having decided?

Now to the career center to figure out my next steps. Or maybe this is enough for one week.

vacation!

I have the week off, and its wonderful. Saturday was a lovely day of birthday celebration. Out to lunch, dinner and a campus party. I'm not sure why we never managed to go to drag ball in previous years, but I'm very glad we went this year.

Today has been a day of educational discussions. I've been educated and also discussed my education of others. The looming pile of licensure paperwork has lots of colored stickies on it, which supposedly means its more organized. At the very least its physical proof that I accomplished something today.

I'm rather shocked how busy I am this week, considering that the majority of my time is usually spent at school and I don't have to go. I'm supposed to go home to visit at some point, and I can't figure out when the best time will be to do that since there's some meeting or event every day! Overcommitted? Can't say no? Not me!

snow day!

No school today :D. I was such a little kid last night checking the website every 5 minutes to see if they had canceled yet. Its a really good thing it was since I stayed up until 1:00 am. There are several inches of snow and sleet which I will be sledding in at 4:00. Until then I will complete backing up everything on my computer (I'm extra cautious now after my friend's computer died last week) and attempt to tackle the pile of paperwork that looms nearby. I love extra days to get little things done when it doesn't actually matter if I accomplish anything important!

Saturday was a good day. Went to Mass MoCA and saw the rice exhibit. 16 tons of rice, distributed in piles, each pile depicting a certain statistic, each grain of rice counts for one person. The comparisons were really interesting (number of people living in gated communities vs. number of people in prison) and some of the piles were just really impressive (pop. of US or Brazil). It made us realize how little history we knew (what exactly happened in Mexico between 1492 and 1800 to remove 2/3 of the population?) and how small we are in comparison with the rest of the people out there. The 16 tons represented all the people in the Americas, and we each got a grain of rice to keep as a souvenir. Mine is taped to paper, labeled as "ME ->" and on my bulletin board.

After the exhibit we went out to dinner and to a dance performance. The American College Dance Festival was at Williams College and one of my friends was performing a piece she coreographed. 3.5 hours of dance is a lot, but we saw some really cool acts.

The rest of the weekend was spent almost entirely listening to friend's drama. I guess its nice that my life is so uncomplicated? Went ice skating on campus today, fell on the same spot I fell on last time I was sliding around on ice. That should look pretty tomorrow. I hope my voice comes back tomorrow or else I'm really gonna look like an old lady, hobbling around with a sore knee and scratchy voice.

I taught without the teacher in the room today. Yay progress. It went exactly the same as it doesn when she's there, that felt good. Apparently I've been talking too much though, my throat hurts and I almost lost my voice at one point today. I will spend the weekend in silence. Maybe. One more day to weekend, then 5 more days to vacation. I just started and I'm already counting down. A week of calm would be amazing, or really amazingly boring. I'm sure it won't happen anyway. What should I do during that week off?

monday!

Did I mention things are busy? I thought this week would be calm, not true. It will certainly be calmer, but never calm. That's okay though, I'm always itching to be busy, I love having projects to focus on and I've felt really productive lately.

Student teaching is going really well. I may even be on my own for an entire day on Friday. My supervising teacher is going to be out (she's going to New Orleans for the weekend) and I might get to be the substitute for all of her classes. 35 Algebra I students, all at once, wow!

We got a couple inches of snow on Friday. I went sledding on Saturday, and I didn't injure myself at all (ignoring my left tricep which is achy), but I don't have any bruises, which is a big deal for me. It definitely feels like winter these days, what with the 12 degrees feels like -4. That makes me less concerned about the state of the world, more concerned about the state of my fingers, which I can't feel when driving, even with gloves on.

I went to an award ceremony today. Its always inspiring to hear about the amazing things that students and alums do. I was honored to be among those described. They presented me with a large wrapped package, which I opened when I got back to my room. Its a diploma frame. It is beautiful and professional looking, but scary, because it is supposed to contain a diploma, which I get when I graduate, which happens when I leave here. So I decided to leave the frame on my bed and ignore it. My friend walked into my room this evening, looked at it, and jumped 3 feet away when she realized what it was. Its funny how fearful we are of graduating. For now I will focus on my friend's motto: I'm not graduating today.