Sick Day

After working 35.5 hours from Monday morning when I arrived to work until last evening when I left my desk, I was understandably exhausted. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well by the time I went to bed last night. (9pm!)

I drove to work, despite having a sore throat and a queasy stomach ... and I croaked through rehearsal with my before-school ensemble before I decided that I couldn't stay through the day. I adapted my lesson plans so that a non-music person could get through my classes (because I didn't expect that I'd get a sub who could read music, play piano, and sing) ... and then I drove home. I tried to take a nap but was unsuccessful.

My throat still feels like it's on fire and my voice is still terrible. I haven't finished my lesson plans for tomorrow yet.

The best part? (sarcasm) I was supposed to meet with my (strict) principal today so he could observe me tomorrow. He'd seemed irritated when he'd scheduled an observation for Tuesday (which was confirmed Monday) and I asked for an extension because I had evening obligations (part of my extra duties as a new music teacher) for 3-4 hours each night after school on Monday and Tuesday. I wrote him an email as soon as I got home, apologizing for leaving (due to my not feeling well!) and saying that I'd try to get my lesson plan to him this afternoon (I didn't) so we could meet and discuss it before the lesson that he was planning to observe.

I just got an email from him saying that my health comes first (!) and that he could certainly wait to observe me until I'm feeling 100%. I was so relieved that I burst into tears. If I feel the slightest bit better tomorrow, I will go in ... and I'll ask if he can come into my classroom on Monday or Tuesday. I really hope that one of those days works for his busy schedule. I doubt that I will be 100% tomorrow, even after I do get another good night's sleep.
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I wonder how my kids behaved for the substitute today...

Ah, imagination

Estrella is now reporting from Grading Jail. Despite some productivity (50 papers) last night, she has spent the entire afternoon on an additional 140+ papers. And she's still not done. And ... she's gonna be collecting an additional 70 papers tomorrow from the remaining 2 classes ...

Question: Why is proper posture important for singing?

Answers:
"It makes your sining clearer and better."
"Because it makes you a singer."
"Your diaframe (stomach area) is your singing voice, and slumping over does not give your diaframe space to open."
"Because if your body is not straight, your vocal cords won't be in place."

Obviously, this is a topic we've gotta review. Again. :-)

"O Frabjous Day! Callooh Callay!"

*Title is a quote from an amusing poem by Lewis Carroll, set to music.

Today has been a glorious Saturday ... so amazingly perfect that I am still lazily lounging in my pajamas even though it is nearly 4pm.

I slept in until 9:30am (which made for a wonderful start to my day, as I have not been able to sleep so late in such a long time!) ... and I awoke, feeling quite rested and refreshed. Chai tea and yummy chocolate covered cookie bars from Trader Joe's were a delightful breakfast combination ... and then I borrowed my mom's current fiction reading (a quirky but fun book entitled Undead and Unwed about a designer-shoe-loving young woman who becomes a vampire).

By the time I finished the book, my family had left to go tailgating and attend a football game ... and I had the house to myself. I enjoyed a delicious lunch of celery with peanut butter, sharp cheddar cheese, a French roll, and a half-glass of wine as I watched the online episode of Grey's from two weeks ago. I talked with Westley on the phone for nearly two hours. I'm planning to watch last week's episode of Grey's...

Other plans (which may or may not include grading today ... perhaps I'll put it off until tomorrow) include: showering, eating an equally tasty dinner, and enjoying my down time without guilt. I've earned this day off. :-)

Lost Lustre

I've never been a huge fan of shopping. Sometimes the mood will strike or necessity will demand a shopping trip ... but I think I'd rather read a book or relax than drive to a people-filled place, find a parking spot, make my way into a store, try to find whatever I'm looking for, wait in line to buy my product(s), and then drive home. If I lived five minutes from a major shopping center, it might be different. As it is, I must drive at least 35 minutes to get to a mall.

Then I met "Tar-zhay" ... I don't really call it that, but that is how it was introduced to me many moons ago in a far away state.

I love this store ... the clothing choices have perked up quite a bit now that 1) they have some more classy designs and 2) they actually make some clothing in my (petite) size. And ... they have pretty houseware items ... and school/office supplies (with which I've been obsessed ever since I was a child ... is it normal to love legal pads and binders and paper clips?) ... and seasonal items ... and books ... and basically anything a person could want! Except ... their music choices are somewhat limited ... but I suppose that most non-music stores don't stock up on the non-popular classical music artists.

I have not been to a "T-Z" ("T-G"?) for a few months ... possibly since before the school year began. (Horrors!) Imagine my delight when I learned a new one would be opening not that far from where I work!!! Hooray!

Today we had an inservice day, and my content area sessions (fabulous) were not held at my school. However, the new T-Z was still virtually on my way home ... so I decided that I ought to stop by the super brand-new (as in, officially opened within the past week) location of my beloved store.

And now, my T-Z experience has been tainted. In fact, any of my usual shopping spots in that area are probably tainted now- forever- through no fault of their own.

I saw a student. One of my students. While I was on my personal time in my own happy little world in my favorite store. I am not a normal person any more. I am now a teacher. There will constantly be little eyes that spot me if I make an appearance in the community near where I work. With nearly 300 students, the chances increase ... and they will only continue to increase after our Winter concert when parents and siblings may recognize me ... and as I teach more and more students over the years.

I'm sure I'll get used to it in time, especially as I'm planning to move closer to my job within the next year or so ... but still ... it was quite shocking to see one of my students (and thankfully, for the first student sighting, it was a nice student) when I was not in TeacherMode but rather in Estrella-Mode.

10 years can be a long time ...

Yesterday, I spent two hours of my personal time crammed in the school's cafeteria with 300 sweaty adolescents jumping and gyrating to blaring music.

The sponsoring teachers for the event (the ones who got paid to be there because their student organization had planned it) had bribed us with free "unlimited" pizza, candy, and beverages. Alas, the students consumed all of the above before I had even learned it had arrived. No compensation (i.e. "free dinner!" - a very exciting promise to someone who still holds to the frugal philosophies of a college student) after all. :-(

When I first walked into the cafeteria, I immediately had flashbacks to my own middle school dances. Loud music, crowds of people. Guys in their own crowds, girls in their own crowds, rarely mingling.

My good friend in sixth grade arrived to our first dance (Fall 1996) in a lovely white party dress with matching heels and a fancy purse. She apparently hadn't gotten the verbal memo from the "big kids" (seventh and eighth graders) that everybody wore jeans to these events.

I remember the Spring of 1997 at one of the dances ... I wore a cute little orangeish/pinkish dress, except that the skirt part of the dress was actually skorts. (What would you call that?) I can distinctly picture this memory of listening to the Fun Factory's "I Wanna Be With You" song blaring in the gym (our dances were held in the gym at my middle school.) As the music blared, I was singing along, standing in a semi-circle with my friends, and I was positioned perfectly to see my little sixth grade crush (who is now a married father). I pretended I was singing to him and all my friends teased me about him.

I think back to my Eighth Grade Dance in Spring 1999 - the big formal event for middle school kids. It's a mini-Prom for teenyboppers. That night was the first night I danced with a boy. A friend from my community theatre group invited me to dance the last dance, and I accepted. He was nice enough, and we were friends- no romantic feelings whatsoever. We'd been dancing for maybe thirty seconds of the song (standing at least a foot apart with our arms awkwardly around each other) when another girl from our theatre group came over.

"C!" She said to him. "You promised to dance with me at least one song tonight, and they said this is the last song!" To me, she said,

"You don't mind, do you, Estrella?" She was a friend of mine too, and I was disappointed. This was the first time I'd ever been asked to dance by a boy, and I'd seen her dancing with other guys at the dance already. I said that it was fine if he wanted to dance with her, so he did.
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Flash forward to 2008: Now I'm a middle school teacher, serving as a chaperone to kids who are not much different than I was a mere 10 years ago.

It broke my heart to see the kids without groups of friends ... one little girl sitting by herself, just watching the others dance .... the little boy who is so adorably awkward but so sweet-natured, the little bossy girl who was walking around by herself. The last child I described always seems so bored and unhappy in my class, and I've always gotten the impression that she doesn't like me. To my surprise, she came up to me and had a long and pleasant conversation with me. She seems lonely ... and I'm trying to figure out which kid I can move next to her in class who would easygoing enough that he/she would tolerate this little girl's bossiness and attitude and perhaps try to reach out to her.

Some kids actually acknowledged my presence there ("Hi Miss LastName!!!!"), and one of my sweet sixth graders even gave me a hug. ("Sorry I'm so sweaty, Miss LastName, but I've been dancing the whole time!!!") That little hug made up for the good/bad flashbacks and the lack of pizza. Still, I'm relieved to know that I'm already unavailable on the date of the next dance, so I won't be able to volunteer to help again until after the New Year. Darn. :-)

Still Treading Water ...

Aack! More than two weeks since I've posted! I haven't neglected my blog like this since my 5-week European studying/backpacking adventure in summer 2007.

Yes, I'm still treading water on the job. My work hours this week alone have been:

Monday- 8am-8:30pm
Tuesday- 7am-5pm
Wednesday- 8am-6:30pm

Today's hours will be: 7:30am-6pm (Why oh why did I volunteer to "chaperone" an after-school event today?!)

In addition to my lesson planning (which actually takes the least amount of time; I'm sending constant prayers of gratitude in the direction of AlmaMater and GradSchool for preparing me so well), I've got so many time-consuming additional tasks:

• adapting plans for students with IEPs
• grading papers/classwork/ daily participation grades
• entering in grades on the computer program
• attending and holding extra rehearsals to prepare my students for upcoming performances/auditions
• creating my curriculum from scratch (well, I have a district-wide curriculum, but I'm designing my own program ... all based on the repertoire and the skills I believe students ought to be developing-- no textbooks in my class)
• emails/contact with parents (huge! I had no idea how many parents would constantly have questions or concern ... and wait until their little babies don't get the "easy A" they expected in my class when report cards come out!)
• handling extras like uniforms, trip-planning, etc.
• assisting with fire drills and other necessary time-wasters

A few bright spots in the past couple weeks:

• Seeing Westley two weekends in a row
• Having my principal walk in and sit in on a (fantastic) lesson for 30 minutes with my most musically-talented class doing fabulously, hearing him sing along, and watching him grin as he left
• Treating myself to a well-deserved latte before school this week
• Finding the perfect pieces with fit with the theme of my concert
• 100% of my kids who auditioned for a select out-of-school group made it!!!
• Unexpected hugs and smiles from happy students
• Getting caught up on some yucky grading
• Getting a note from my principal saying that he'd stood outside my door on another day during another class and had "heard angels singing"
• Learning a few more teachers' names
• Letting myself "sleep in" until 5:45am yesterday morning
• Having a little time to read for pleasure

All in all, still loving it ... even though I am a little tired. :-) I'm earning every penny of my salary (and more, I think)!

Young Females Beware: They might take advantage of you too!

Today was my day off. Yay for Jewish holidays! I'm not Jewish, but I'm glad that they get their fair share of days off because I've rarely had to attend school on the holidays I celebrate.

I was so looking forward to today ... I've been running for the past 6 weeks, and a day off is a lovely luxury. I also had big plans for today ...

• Oil change & tire replacements
• Finish compiling the spreadsheet of my parent volunteers
• Watch Part II of the Grey's premiere from last week
• Set up online accounts for my new working benefits
• Prepare my lunches for the rest of the week

Alas, the promise of these glorious plans was squashed after the very first task listed above.

I had printed off a coupon (thank you, teachers' union!) for a place where I had decided to get my oil changed. I had my brand-new tires in my car, ready for installation. I called and made an appointment (not necessary but is supposed to entitle me to priority status on their schedule). I showed up on time and handed over my keys.

After a few minutes, one of the guys tells me my tires are out of alignment, and that I need to get them realigned. I am surprised by this because my dad had inspected my car last night, but I figure that because the worker, the expert, says it is necessary, I should comply.

Two hours later, I've exhausted all of their magazines (7 or so), the one chapter in my book that I was allowed to read (Westley and I have started our own book club, and we're not supposed to read ahead!), and I haven't eaten lunch. The procedures should not have taken more than 1 hour. I am bored and grumpy.

Then another employee comes over and shows me a price estimate. $450+. More work is needed - flush and replace the steering fluid. He is rather rushed with his explanation and I don't have the chance to get a good look at the paper outlining the expenses. Again, I am surprised by this, as I'd had major maintenance about 10K ago, but I trust him that when he says the work is necessary, it truly is. Even though my car is relatively young, I don't suspect the high prices.

A half hour later, my mom calls. I tell her that they're taking forever and that the cost is nearly 3 times what it should have been. I am frustrated by the long wait and the rising expenses. Shocked, she tells me that I need to call my dad right away; she doesn't believe that all of those procedures are necessary.

My dad confirms my mother's concerns and instructs me to inquire as to the status of my services. The workers confirm that they have changed the oil, replaced the filter (not part of the original agreement and an unnecessary expense), done a fuel injection (the costliest item on the list, not even mentioned to me previously), and put on my new tires. They are about to do the alignment.

I share this with my father who explains that with my recent maintenance and considering the age of my car, these additional procedures and costs are NOT necessary, as I'd been falsely led to believe. I've been taken advantage of.

I tell them to CANCEL the alignment. I affirmed that I had come in asking only for an oil change and to have tires mounted, and now I want no more additional procedures done. I had a major maintenance recently, I explain (and they look uncomfortable).

One employee has the gall to say, "Well, maybe you ought to check out that place because they obviously didn't do these procedures in that maintenance checkup you had."

The employees now know that I am incredibly suspicious and mistrusting of their business. They probably already know they've lost all possible future business from me. When I get my bill, they explain that they've given me further discounts (-15%) and they've taken off the charge for the alignment because they had not yet begun work on it. Another employee tells me he would have given me an additional discount off the tire alignment, and if I change my mind, I can still get 50% off in the future. Their placations seem to only solidify my suspicions that they have acted in an unethical manner.

I am so angry I can barely breathe, but I remain calm. I pay the $330 bill and thank God that my business with them is over. I never have to go back to those crooks again.

Alas.

As I drive to a store across the street, there is a funny noise whenever I turn my steering wheel. This noise was NOT there before I took my car to the shop. I call my dad again. He tells me to take it back to the shop.

"Because it's the same day," he explains, "they'll remember you, and the guy who serviced your car is likely still there. Better to get it over with and have them check it out."

I return and explain the problem. The young man who apparently worked on my car comes out with me and drives it around the parking lot. He confirms that he hears the noise, and he promises to check it out.

Minutes later, another employee hands back my keys and tell me that he could barely hear the noise. He had to listen really hard for it. I share that the young man who drove around with me confirmed that he heard the noise too. The employee responds that the problem is a "normal" one; the contact between my ABS system and my steering column is causing the noise. It's an age issue with the car, he assures me, but it's fine. Plus, his men were not anywhere near my steering column when they did the other work today.

"Must be a strange coincidence, huh? I mean, the noise wasn't there when I brought the car in today." I say boldly. He has no response.

I ask him to repeat the explanation for the noise and tell him I'm documenting it as I write it down on a scrap piece of paper. Unfortunately, I did not get the names of any of the employees with whom I spoke today.

I call my father again who agrees that this all seemed too fishy to be a coincidence. The place had already ripped me off by misleading me and telling me that unnecessary procedures were needed for the car. How are we supposed to know if they are lying again?

Because he knew that I was headed to another store to make some purchases for my classroom, my father suggests I take my car to its brand dealership, the place from which I had purchased my car and also the location where I had gotten it maintenanced most recently. My family has been going to this dealership for nearly 20 years ... and I would have gone there today if I hadn't had the coupon for my oil change at the first place.

I walk in and explain my situation. The service manager himself agrees to come with me and check out my car. We drive around for less than 10 minutes, and he confirms that he hears the noise. He also doesn't agree with the first place's diagnosis for the cause/source of the noise. He has another suspicion - a problem which would have been caused by poor servicing when my steering fluid was replaced.

He says he can inspect my car for free and he will "go to bat" for me with the first business if needed. He assures me it is safe to drive until my appointment there next week, and he walks me through the steps that will have to take place if the problem is indeed what he suspects. I am relieved ... but I am also quite angry that my day off has become a day of stress and headaches. What should have taken one hour took about four hours, from the time I dropped off my car to the time I left the dealership.

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I'm thankful that there was an honest person- my parents can vouch for his integrity- who was able to help me at the end of this ordeal. Still, I am so ANGRY that I was taken advantage of. I had heard about these kinds of scams-"requiring" unnecessary work on cars- used on unsuspecting young females. I just never expected that such a scam would be used on me. (Of course, that assumption further supports my inclusion in that population.)

After today, I am a little wiser, a little disheartened and a great deal poorer. I hope that my sharing of my experience will inspire others to be more cautious.