"Just cause your an MC doesn't mean you can be an asshole..."
Date: 12.21.03--JLIZ is twenty four!
Climate: warmer than normal and sunny even
Eating: NOTHING
Drinking: smoothies and gatorade
Feeling: jazzercized, ha.
Listening to: This American Life...in Menomonee WI, and Sevens Travels...something about coming back to Minnesota...especially that cute "extra hidden" track about MN love...
Watching: My mom watch a bad made for TV movie about a mother dying. Why does she drudge or find comfort in such too true to life stuff, I will never know.
Reading: --
Its been a whirlwind of a couple days. I drove home to MN early this morning, and made it into the state a little after Noon. I proceeded to go to Ballys and worked out for two hours, then Lena and I wandered around downtown Minneapolis (so festive) and went to uptown. It was great.
Now I am home, tired, and smelly from the gym.
I am determined to lose at least five pounds if not ten by NYEve, and I have a crazy scheme which includes limited solid food and at least two hours of working out per day, sometimes more. I refuse to ring in the new year soft.
But as I was driving home, I randomly tuned into This American Life...I listened to it all, and actually started to cry during Truman Capote's authentic reading of A Christmas Memory. Its just something about the holidays which makes me weepy and emotional I suppose.
So there I was, driving down 90, wiping tears. I felt so lame. But it really is quite moving. I figure, I'll get a copy of it and read it maybe to my family. Then we can all be sad at once, maybe even cry, and not split it up sporadically throughout the holiday day/dinner...just kidding, like I said, holiday family fights are just much too cliche...haha. Sorta.
I trained yesterday with Princeton Review for eight hours. Its not tutoring, oh no, its teaching kids the skills they need to get their respective schools out of "failing" status. Its all a part of the No Child Left Behind Act, and due to the fact that we are one of the outside vendors, the schools, and the teachers themselves, aren't too happy that we are being paid by State and Federal budgets, to come in and in some ways usurp them and teach these kids--most of which are loaded up to their ears with socio-economic issues, low income, divorced and/or broken homes, along with the usual array of pre or intense adolescence, drugs, sex, guns, etc. These schools are on the South or the West side of Chicago. We were also taught how to protect ourselves...I could have up to 15 high school juniors. Oh boy.
Naturally I am worrysome but still maintain my excitement. I just hope I do this well...and that they really do learn. Such is the nature of a crash course though. Most of the kids will be black or hispanic with limited English language...I felt sorta out of place. One of the other teachers graduated from Harvard, the other had a doctorate from the U of Chicago...I was the youngest, and felt like a phony, like I slipped in by accident or something. It, its just all a bit overwhelming. I have a budget, I do lesson plans, I have "curriculum"... and I never thought I could teach.
But this is in NO way permanent. Oh no.
And so thats that.