Free at last!

I’m free! School year is over and I have 2 months before I have to step into that building again!

I found out yesterday that my co-teacher had been badmouthing me, telling other people at my school that she “basically did all the teaching this year.” This is an unbelievable load of crap, and fortunately for me, these people know that. I wonder if she thinks this is a good way to make friends?

In the meanwhile, when I asked my class what their favorite things about Kindergarten were, each one mentioned something I’d taught of an initiative of mine. And I was smothered in hugs all day, while not one of them touched her. So maybe it’s a jealousy thing. C’est la vie.

Last night I celebrated by going to Ideya for delicious (if a little expensive) food and drinks with one of my best friends from college who was in town for work. It was wonderful to see her, she lives in Chicago now and is getting married next year. Is it just me, or is everyone getting married?

It’s good to be free in that way too! Free at last!

I can has presents?

Birfday is 1 week from Friday, maybe check my amazon wishlist?

jibber jabber

Did anyone see last night’s Mets game? I’ve finally broken my losing streak! But how is it that I’ve only seen the 5th starting pitcher all season?

And has anyone seen the Mr. Roboto/Mr. Delgado music video during the “Xtra Innings Show?” I thought I’d dropped acid.

Anyway, 1 week from now I will be on a plane to London! Where I will spend approximately 5 hours before going to Brussels. Oh the decision to fly in and out of London. Big mistake. Huge.

But I digress, I’m getting nervous and excited for my trip. Looking forward to being done with school (tomorrow is the last day, and if I had to come in again I would probably quit), even though kindergarten graduation was the cutest. Some of my kids came to school in mini prom dresses and suits. And one came in shorts. So it goes. I think teaching second grade next year (I’m staying at my school) will be good for me. Less baby behavior, more actual learning.

The other night I was up till 2 am doing research and making notes for my trip. I booked my hostel in Brussels for the first night and am thinking of spending 3-4 days in Amsterdam. Has anyone been? Any suggestions? Anyone living in Amsterdam and want to offer me a place to crash?

Hot times, summer in the city

Went to the Mets game tonight. Yikes. There were some positive things going on with our team (making contact with the ball, not getting struck out by Santana), but where is our pitching? And can we please get more hits than errors next time? For a better written recap of the game, be sure to check out Stefi’s blog You Can’t Script Baseball. Of course, we still had a great time. But that’s to be expected, we always bring our own fun. And tonight our fun was aided by some goofy boys on the subway.

Oh it is summer in the city, and the boys are about. And when I say boys, I mean young ‘uns. Not like I’m that old, but I feel like I keep getting hit on by these kids just out of college. Makes me feel a little koo-koo-ka-joob. Wasn’t anyone in this city born before 1984?

This is a good week: Sunday night was a ten mile run, last night was fajitas with coworkers, tomorrow I have another hash run in store, Thursday night has some potential, Kindergarten graduation on Friday, and before I know it, I’ll be in Europe! Somebody wipe that smile off my face

Don’t forget to RSVP for BBB/BVB!

Photo Class

This week’s assignment was to capture motion and to take pictures of someone doing an activity. I took pictures of DiAnne walking and some Hare Krishna guys in Union Square. Yesterday, class met at 7:30 am at the Union Square greenmarket to take pictures. The assignment was to take pictures of people. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. So I’ve updated my flickr page with some of those photos. And also some pictures of the dogs I saw at the vet when I took Kaz after class.

What I did this weekend

Mmm, BBQ brisket w/sausage, pickles, and cheese!!!

Big Apple BBQ was great.

There was also a beer garden and a bourbon bar.  Why can’t this be every weekend?

Things ‘n stuff

First of all, in great news, welcome home Kaz!!! I finally got to pick my kitty up tonight, and am very relieved to have him back. I’ll have to closely monitor him for a few days, but he should be alright.

Last night I went to my first Hash run. Alice played a heavy role in getting me there, as I had been on their email list for a while. For those of you who don’t know, the Hash House Harriers are “drinkers with a running problem.” It’s a social run with a bunch of people. As the website says: The trail is set by another Hasher called the Hare. The Hare marks the trail in flour or chalk. Periodically the Hare ends the trail with a “check”, and starts the trail again somewhere nearby. The Hashers - called a Pack - try to find the continuation of the trail. The idea is that the fast r*nners will get to the check before the slower r*nners; will expend a lot of time and energy finding the continuation of the trail; this will allow the slower r*nners to catch up; and the whole pack - fast and slow - will finish the r*n at about the same time. There is an explanation conducted by the Hare of the marks used at the start of each r*n. The length of the trail varies from too short to too long. Forty-five minutes for a good r*n, one and a half hours for a lousy one.

Get it? Maybe? Basically it’s a bunch of people trying to find arrows, chasing each other through the streets of the city while almost getting killed by cars and trying not to knock people over in the process of getting to a bar. And it was great! The trail we went on was over six miles long - we started in Midtown, took us through Central Park, around and into the Ramble, past the Museum of Natural History, through the Boat Basin to the West Side Highway, up the stairs at Lincoln Center and ended at Circus in Hell’s Kitchen (where I was last seen wearing a sailor hat…). Water, beer, pizza and hazing were had by all. Good times.

And lastly, the Big Apple BBQ is this weekend. Who’s coming with me?

Photos

In less stressful news, I’ll be posting photos I take for my class here. Check it out if you’re interested

Sick Kitty

Some of you may know I have two cats - Kaz and Mo. They are the most amazing, sweet, friendly cats. On Saturday, I noticed that Kaz had been a little lethargic. He was laying around the apartment and was not very vocal. I assumed it must be the heat. When I came back later that night, DiAnne mentioned that he had been acting strange. I went to find him lying in my room. He was sprawled on his side, and he was soaking wet with urine. Upon closer examination, I noticed that there was blood in the urine. So we rushed him to the emergency room. They ran some tests and found abnormal results in his kidneys. So they kept him overnight for two nights, trying to normalize the levels. Then this morning there was a blockage that they had to remove through his urethra. Now my poor cat has a catheter in him until tomorrow, they have him for at least another night, and he has some sort of urinary tract infection. So send some well wishes for my poor baby!

I love this city

Last night, I finally got myself to the Met to see the exhibit on Barcelona artists! -Barcelona and Modernity: From Gaudi to Dali. It was an excellent exhibit, one that I had been longing to go to and finally got the push when I realized it was closing tomorrow. After perusing the art (and being thoroughly amazed and disturbed by the Franco-era artwork in the last room, including some of Picasso’s preliminary sketches for Guernica), Stefi and I had drinks on the roof of the Met.

Even though drinks were on the pricey side ($11 for a cup of sangria), it was worth it for the spectacular views of the park. I definitely recommend going, preferably on a less cloudy evening, for drinks and picture-taking.

Last night was also the bearer of the worst pickup line ever (not on the roof at the Met, but several hours later at an Irish pub) - “Are you guys, like, BFF?” I’m sorry, did you just approach me using IMspeak? No dice for that man.