Hi hi, salutations!
Clearly I'm having a rockin' Friday night. I came home from work today and began final preparations on dinner for Boys Hope (http://www.boyshopegirlshope.org/what-we-do.php). Caitlin and I worked together to make a cake, sandwiches, pasta salad and veggies. Last month when we brought food, Ms. Mona invited us to eat with them, but we were going to see a play that evening and couldn't. Therefore, this time we planned to stay with them and we did. I said grace, which was weird, only because I haven't said grace since I was 12 or something. I've heard it said plenty of times, but I never say it...mostly because I think I get stage fright, which I definitely did tonight, but I think also because I try to think what everyone would be thankful for, besides the obvious food sitting in front of us and then just get awkward and say too much...and anyway. I think it went all right. ANYWAY, I started to volunteer to make this dinner once a month, the first Friday of the month, as a part of my personal campaign to get involved in the world outside me and it's neat that it is becoming something for Caitlin and I to do together...which also sort of happened all by accident anyway. But, that seems to be how everything is happening with life here in New Orleans: "accident".
I got a job offer! http://library.uno.edu/about/jobs/la_services_4548.html That's a lie, by the way! Not the job offer, but that it's available, because I took it!! I put in my two weeks at Earth-Search, which is sad, but necessary. Hopefully I'll still be doing some baby sitting and screaming and running and nose wiping and all of that because I have grown to really enjoy it, but it's definitely time to move on and start using my degree. Turns out I went to college for a reason....
OOH! And, I have another interview coming up for TeachNOLA. I'm pretty nervous but excited and need to call my sister (Sally) for advice about a lesson plan. As part of the interview process, which lasts all day (!), I have to make a mock five-minute lesson plan. I can cover any material I want, at any grade level. I figure that because I am interviewing for the position of an elementary school teacher, I should go for that range and I think that I'd really like to teach fourth or fifth graders. I'd really like to avoid any ages that might consistently "accidentally" pee their pants. I'm done with the defecation in the clothing. Another part of the application process is taking the Praxis I and II tests, which I am also anxious about, mostly because the last time I can remember sitting down for an extended period of time and taking a standardized test was six years ago in High School. Ew.
Anyway, I kind of digressed...After dinner tonight, I came home and reclined with the intention to stay reclined for the first time in several days. I obviously immediately fell asleep. It's probably because I took my pants off first. It is absolutely impossible to sleep comfortably in jeans. But yes, I passed out and woke up nearly every hour to read some sort of silly text message and make a half asleep response and then fall back asleep. I have been worried the past couple of days because I was loaned a copy of A Confederacy of Dunces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces), an apparently essential New Orleans read, and thought I had lost it. I was frustrated, mostly, because I was just getting interested in it and wanted to keep reading. I had remembered seeing a copy next to Allison's bed and asked if I could borrow it for the time being. But then I had a "light bulb" moment and thought to check the crack between my bed and the wall. And of course it was there. I had checked under the bed, but not the crack. Almost all things I ever seem to lose have been found in that crack. It's a black hole for my half-thoughts, or something.
ANYWAY, with all this sleep, I woke up around 10:30 to come downstairs and find Allison and Kolbe and John drinking in the kitchen. It smelled like a bar. Don't worry, I put on pants before I went downstairs. It's funny. OR well, it has been funny, living with another girl. It reminds me of living at SRD, mostly because every time I hear a male voice my ears perk up and I immediately go investigate. What's the deal with that? ANYWAY, I came downstairs and ate a banana. I wasn't really hungry but it seemed appropriate to me to have something in my hand because everyone else had a beer. So I ate the banana and flipped through the channels on the TV about thirty times. I watched a couple minutes of what I'm going to assume was Soulplane, got disinterested and came upstairs. I think that maybe I'll see how late I can stay up tonight. I haven't stayed up all night in a long time (sober...sorry mom and dad) and I forgot how nice it can be to watch the sunrise and the early early morning news (you know, the broadcast from New York, from London if you're REAL early). And then you fall asleep at 7:45AM, just as the normal people stir. ANYWAY. I think that's what I'll do and study for the Praxis exams and think about what I'll do tomorrow. The plans already include shopping for interview clothes (pants) and going to see Dark Knight at the IMAX. This has been the topic of conversation for literally months. Perhaps seeing it will finally quell the noise...or just make me become an active part of it.
But, that's what's been going on, today anyway.
