i really enjoyed watching this.

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/clips/saved-by-the-bell-reunion-update-3-6809/1121321/

digital cleanse.

This last week I read on John Mayer's twitter about the digital cleanse.

The first time I read through the idea and all the instructions, I thought that's stupid. It doesn't give up that many things that are "digital". But then, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I just kept wondering how hard it would be. And what about Facebook? John Mayer can't use Facebook at the same level or really at all, and for sure not as much as I do. Since Facebook wasn't really listed, I was unsure what to do about that. The more I thought about it, the more I Facebook would need to be on the list too. So following a disappointing birthday and even worse new years eve, I had my mom change my twitter and Facebook password, I took BOTH of the apps off of my brand new cell phone and am trying to be off of these sites for a week.

So here's my version of the digital cleanse.

Until Jan 8th at 9 AM I will:

-Not log onto Facebook

-Not read or post on Twitter

-Only respond to emails on an actual computer

-NOT SEND ANY TEXTS MESSAGES ( I can still read them, but if they need a reply I have to pick up the phone to do that)

John Mayer is doing no gossip sites or celebrity sites. Which I will say, I used to be addicted to. In my senior year of college I think I was checking Perez Hilton 5 times a day, at the very least. When I started working at camp last summer though, I didn't have time to check Perez and now only check it once a month but find it too hard to keep up with. I do read People online sometimes and don't really think of it as a big deal. So I'm not going to stop that.

So far... I thought not texting would KILL me. It really hasn't been that bad yet. I haven't called anyone back who has texted me- but no one has seemed to mind so far.

I don't really miss Facebook or twitter, but instead have had a hard time trying to fill up the time that it usually takes. Especially since I am still on Christmas break and don't have a ton of things going on. Usually I allow Facebook to take up so much of my time but instead I have had to find things to fill this gap.

And I have:

-done some arts and crafts

-almost finished reading the book I brought home to read over break (but in all fairness I stopped reading it because I was distracted by an even better book)

-watched a lot of TV... WITH my parents.

I have not watched any TV on the actual television in my room. Just a few episodes online on my computer. But I have spent a lot of time being with my parents, while watching their TV.

- Downloaded new things to my phone

-Read a lot of fashion blogs

-played a lot of games on my phone

and now written this blog!

I'm anticipating more productivity from this Digital Cleanse once I get back to Austin. Tomorrow. And start working. On Monday. And then through that whole week of teaching I will probably have nothing to do because of how productive I am. And as soon as Jan 8th hits I'll be back to my normal facebooking, twittering self.

but it is kind of nice to start the year with a new challenge. And a good way to evaluate how much time I really am spending on the Internet.

I wish I had written this..

But sadly I can't write songs. Or think in song lyric format, anyways. So I let John Mayer do it for me. This pretty much sums up how I feel the first 15 minutes into the big 2-3 birthday.

When my students asked how old I was, I said I was turning 138. They all agreed I looked good for my age. So here's to the big 1-3-8 or the big 2-3. Age is just a number, right?

No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but
I just can't sleep on this tonight

Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go
One generation's length away
From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun
Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change the place you're in
Don't think I couldn't ever understand
I tried my hand
honestly we'll never stop this train

See once in a while when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.

Singing stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take this speed it's moving in
I know I can't
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

A few of my favorite things.

My kids had to a writing prompt on their benchmark a few weeks ago. I spent last weekend grading them. Some of them were amazing and some of them I wasn't even sure they knew what a memory was. So when January comes around and we are back at school, and not finishing The Outsiders, we'll go over their writing and try to improve. I'm a big believer in leading by example though, so when I went to a writing workshop and we worked on OUR (the teachers) writing, I wrote my own personal narrative. So that when we work on improving their papers, I will be working on improving my paper as well. Here is my first draft of my favorite memory:

My feet, and my mom's, were sticking up, our toes in the air. We were floating on our backs in the clear, ocean water of Hawaii. My mom had her Chaco shoes on because she wanted to have tan lines from her shoes. It was most likely the only place someone would see evidence of her trip to Hawaii since she always made sure to have her sunscreen on. It seemed like there were people all over the beach and in the water. But we ignored them. Instead we just floated, spending our time and telling stories. I had to stop her though to focus on my dad, who was not that far away from us standing in the water. As we watch him, it seems like he is searching the clear water for something. I pause, " He can't be looking for..." I trail off and we both instantly know what he is searching for.

Three days earlier, my family and I were at the same beach in Hawaii. Same bright water, hot sand and just as many people around. My dad and I had been tossed around in a particularly scary momen in the waves. When we both returned to the surface, tired and confused, my dad realized he had lost his sunglasses. He looked around but there was nothing in the water. We left the beach shaken and my dad was feeling bummed about his sunglasses. On our way back to our condo, in a foreign beach town, my dad spotted a Sunglass Hut. To him it was like the shining beacon of hope. He stopped the car and seconds later returned with an exact replica of his old sunglasses. Finally, all seemed right with the world.

Now, three days later, my mom and I could not stop laughing. Amused by the idea of what he was searching for, and we were still hoping we were wrong. That instead he was looking at the bright colored fish or something odd in the sand. When my dad made his way towards us he only confirmed that he had in face been looking for his sunglasses. Because as he said it, in his own words, "Dead bodies wash up on shore. i though maybe sunglasses would too."

What really stands out to me about this short, ordinary moment is how happy I was. I was at the point in my life when everything was about to change. family vacations were ending, I would be spending more time on own, soon the three of us would be separated. And most importantly I would be changing. I was going off to college ready to see and learn new things, meet new people and begin a brand new part of my life. But no matter who I became or what happened to all of us, I would always have this moment to hold onto. A time where my family was all together and so happy to laugh over the smallest things.

No matter where I am, who I am with or what season I'm in, I will always be able to picture my mom and my feet sticking up through the clear, bright water, laughing at my dad searching for those lost sunglasses.

so this is the new year.

A few things that have changed in my life with this “new year”:

I have my own classroom, to organize any way I want, with 30 desks and chairs to arrange. I am in charge of plans for 110 students, for 50 minutes, 5 days a week. I control what they are doing and in some ways am forced to entertain them for a class period. I go to endless meetings and seminars. I hear my last name more often than I hear my first name. I am excepted to act normal when my boss, the principal or vice principal come in and sit in the back of my classroom. I have attention getting “strategies” that I use all the time. My alarm goes off at 5:50 every morning and the only day it really bugs me is on Fridays. I call other adults by their last name. I have to answer questions like, “Why do I call you by your last name?” Most of the time I’m not sure of the answer, either. Sometimes I feel like my boss is really a students parent. I say the Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas pledge 5 times a week. I assign homework, give lunch detentions, let students know how disappointed I am in them, and try to figure out what is going is going on in students home life. I see students more than some of their parents do. I have students who are dying for my attention and approval. I have students that feel like I don’t spend enough time on them. I feel like I don’t spend enough time on any of my students. I have to be prepared to lead at least 25 kids out of a building during any kind of drill. I boss people around all day. I spend time reading 12 year olds favorite moments, or childhood memories. I go to meetings where I am never sure what’s being said. I spend almost all my time with 12/13 year old kids, laughing at their jokes, trying to get them to like reading, trying to have them understand directions, trying to improve their writing and trying to get them to be better people. And I’m enjoying almost every single moment of it. Even through the office referrals, the disrespect, the funny moments, the days when I’m unprepared. All those moments and days, I still get to care about 110 kids and their lives.

New Year's Resolutions on Thanksgiving Day? Ok.

Found a website full of these. And these are the ones I loved. And will consider for my own New Years Resolutions. Which I will make the day after I turn 23. (yay?...!)

Something I LOVE

How do other first year teachers do it without a full time mentor? I can't deny my mentor and I hit a rough patch but things are so, so, so much better now.
She meets with me whenever I need it- I had a parent freak out about report cards- and she was so understanding. She has met with me on the weekends to help me plan out units (because that's what I need!) and just knowing she's around helps me to know that if I'm ever in a bad situation where I don't know what I'm doing she'll be there to help.
Sometimes I feel like I'm being pulled in a few directions between her, admin and the other teachers- but I usually take her advice because it has worked so well for me.
(And she even found a pumpkin cookie recipe for me after I told her I wanted one!)
I'm so glad she's there for my first year to help me survive it all!