No Is Not a Four-Letter Word

I really need to keep reminding myself that no is not a four-letter word and that it’s OK to use it when people ask me to take multi-day subbing assignments. The four days I spent in first grade last week were a good reminder of why I only like single-day assignments.

Monday was absolutely chaotic the whole day and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. The class I was in had had two or three different subs the week before and the kids were already out of control the minute school started. I discovered that the subs from the week before basically hadn’t taught anything. This was problematic because I was supposed to assess the kids on math that they hadn’t yet learned. So I scrambled for the first two days to teach all of the missing lessons.

I assessed the little darlings in math and writing, conducted a science experiment, settled “I’m not your friend anymore” disputes, etc. It was just like having my own class again. So in other words it was a total nightmare. Just when I was about to begin suffering symptoms of PTSD, the four days were up.

Now the teacher I subbed for loves me. The room mom gave me a thank you card and chocolates. The principal loves me. And the secretary told me she was going to put me on speed dial. You’d think I’d be elated. Instead I want to run for the hills. I actually just want to slide under the radar and not be noticed. Because then it’s easier to use my favorite not-four-letter word.

The whole point of subbing was to have time to write and to not be burdened by the stress of teaching. But once I’m in the same classroom for several days, school is all I can think about. I have issues. I know.

At the end of the week of subbing, I had to go to the orientation for the other district I’ll be working for. You’d think an orientation would involve learning about the job and/or the district. Instead I learned that the presenter is a menopausal single mom. I learned about every job she’s held in the district for the past 25 years. I learned that her daughter is in grad school and her son didn’t go to college. Oh, and I learned that you should show up for your job on time and that you shouldn’t bring anything valuable to school that isn’t attached to your body. And of course, I had to go get fingerprinted again. Someday soon, they might even inform me that they’ve hired me.

Needless to say, my writing career has been suffering that last few weeks. I’ve resolved to only sub two days a week. I figure this will give my life some structure and responsibility. And it will make my “free” time seem more precious.

Climbing has been going pretty well. Last week I actually made it to the gym three times. It’s been a long time since I climbed that much. I’m trying to build my strength and stamina for my birthday challenge this year. I’m still trying to work out the details, but I think it might involve going to three different gyms and climbing either 36 boulder problems at each of them or problems worth 36 points at each of them (so a VO would be worth 1 point, a V1 worth 2 points, etc.).

Before

After

What I’ve been reading: I finished reading East of Eden. It was terrific. Not only is it well written but it’s a tremendous story. I also finished An Abundance of Katherines, which I thought was pretty funny and entertaining. It’s probably the only fiction book I've ever read that contains footnotes. And because I’d read John Green’s other three novels, I decided to devour Paper Towns too. It was also quite good, in classic John Green style. Now I’m reading The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett. I’m not quite sure where this book is headed yet, but it’s pretty good so far.

Starring Yours Truly As "The Substitute"

I finally accepted a sub job on Tuesday for a kindergarten class. I walked to the school since parking there sucks. When I arrived the office was not open yet, so I wandered around for a minute until I found someone in the copy room. She brought me to the principal’s office and then to the classroom. When I walked in, I immediately noticed that everything on the walls was in Spanish (apparently it’s a dual language immersion school). Then I discovered there wasn’t a lesson plan. So I went back to find the principal who put me in touch with another kindergarten teacher who gave me an emergency lesson plan (basically a bunch of stacks of worksheets).

When I went back to the room I was subbing in, the teacher was there, trying to write a last minute lesson plan. She finished the “plan”, handed it to me and left. The “plan” had no times on it and not really any details about what to do either. So I spent the day trying to use the “plan”, the emergency lessons, and the schedule on the board (which was in Spanish and had the wrong times). Ugh. I was so glad when the day was over. After one day, I was already thinking, “What am doing subbing? Why did I think this was going to be fun?”

But then I valiantly (or stupidly) accepted two more jobs for the week, both fourth grade but at two different schools. The two days in fourth grade went really well for the most part. Both teachers left detailed lesson plans that were easy to follow and included, of all things, the times that things should happen. On the down side, in the first class a boy “dyed” his hair with this hair chalk stuff right in the middle of class while I was helping someone with their work. And in the second class, I was leading the line of kids and walking backward, then turned around and walked right into a tree. The hazards of being a teacher…

I also accepted a four-day job to sub for a first grade teacher. The principal at one of the schools I was at asked me if I was available next week and of course I said yes (because I don’t know how to say no).

In addition to subbing in this district, I want to sub in another local district too. So I applied a while ago and finally went to this job fair thing at their district office where they interviewed me. Now I have an orientation next Friday, so I guess that means they’re hiring me (although I haven’t officially been informed of this).

I try to plan a few fun outings each month with my boyfriend to do things like go to museums or shows or whatever else seems like it’ll be fun. One of our outings this month was to Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland. It’s this park right in the middle of the port of Oakland. I’ve been a little obsessed with shipping cranes lately due to a story I’m writing, so I really wanted to get a good view of the cranes. The park was really nice and we actually got to watch some of the airshow that’s part of Fleet Week in the city. But I couldn’t get as close to the cranes as I wanted to and none of them were operating. Two enormous container ships did go by as we watched. They were so big they looked like they won’t fit under the Bay Bridge. It was pretty amazing to see them.

We also went out to Alcatraz, both to do the prison tour and to see the art installation @Large by Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. I saw some of his art at a Toronto museum last summer and I was impressed. I really liked With Wind (this enormous dragon kite), Trace (the faces of dissidents around the world made out of Legos), and Refraction (this amazing sculpture made out of solar panels). Info about @Large

With Wind

Trace

What I’m reading: I finished Looking for Alaska and I really liked it (not as much as The Fault in Our Stars, but it’s a good read). I was at Costco last week and was jumping up and down and whooping (not literally, just in my head) when I found a 4-pack of John Green books. So now I’m devouring An Abundance of Katherines, which is excellent so far. I’m about three-quarters of the way through East of Eden. I’m loving this book too.

Meet My Character

I’ve been tagged to answer a few questions about a character I’ve created by my amazing friend, Bekah Berge. It took me a minute to figure out that this is basically the modern equivalent of a chain letter from days of yore. However, a tag, unlike a chain letter, cannot be torn into tiny bits and eaten in order to avoid passing it on (true story). Just so you know, my character lives in a picture book aimed at 6-8 year old children. So here goes…

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she a fictional or historical person?
Ty is the main character in this story. He is fictional, but I see a little of myself in him.
                                                   
2. When and where is the story set?
This story is contemporary and takes place in a town/city somewhere, but the characters are anthropomorphic.

3. What should we know about him/her?
Ty is a nerdy, horn-rimmed glasses wearing T-Rex who carries a pocket dictionary around with him wherever he goes. He doesn’t have friends because no one understands him (literally). He likes to use big words that he’s learned from reading the dictionary.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Ty wins the class spelling bee and his prize is to get a treat with his teacher and a friend. But he doesn’t have any friends…

5. What is the personal goal of the character?
Ty spends the story doing his best to make friends with other dinosaurs so he doesn’t have to be embarrassed when he shows up alone to have his treat with his teacher.

6. Is there a working title for this novel?
Yes, but it's a surprise. It's a made up word describing the type of dinosaur Ty is.

7. When can we expect the novel to be published?

You never know, maybe I’ll win the agent/publisher finding lottery and it will happen soon. But it is currently nowhere near being published.

And now I tag another superb writer, Yamile Mendez.

Hard Drive Woes

Last Tuesday I went to Peet’s to write. I ordered my coffee, found a cozy armchair to sit in, fired up the old laptop, and connected to Wi-Fi. Suddenly a restart warning appeared on the screen and my computer shut down. And then, instead of restarting, it informed me that it was unable to boot. I stared blankly at the screen. I told myself to be calm. I explained to myself that I should just try turning it off and then on again. I felt the panic rising in my chest. I suck at the routine maintenance that technological devices require. Sync my iPhone? Who needs that? Back up my documents and photos? Who’s got time?

Well, I’ve hopefully learned my lesson the hard way. My computer failed to restart because the hard drive crashed. So I lost everything recent on my computer. The last backup appears to have been done about two years ago (just for the record, that’s when I got my current computer). Fortunately all my writing is saved on Dropbox. And a lot of other important stuff is on Google Docs. But I may be missing some photos and whatever other random stuff I’ve done on the computer for the past two years. A lot of the photos were still on my phone, thanks to me sucking at taking them off permanently when I saved them to the computer (See? Sometimes there are perks to not preforming proper maintenance).

Thanks to my rockstar boyfriend, my laptop is back up and running again. He replaced the hard drive, re-installed all of the programs, got the pictures off my phone, found my old backup, etc., etc. And because I suck at all the routine maintenance stuff, I’ve begged him to periodically backup things for me. Some days I hate technology.

I have three critique group “dates” set up now. One is with a woman who is looking to rejoin a group, one is with a group that has already been meeting for a while, and one is with a group that is just starting. I’m fine with the first and third “dates”, but the one with the group that’s already active makes me totally anxious. It’s like sitting down at the lunch table with a clique you don’t belong to. Will they like you? Hate you? Bah!! I just keep reminding myself that it doesn’t really matter. If we mesh then we mesh. And if not, I have two other “dates” that may be better.

We finally got a membership at the local climbing gyms here. There are four Touchstone gyms nearby: one in Berkeley, one in Oakland, and two in San Francisco. We tried out the Berkeley gym over the weekend. It was decent, but not as nice as the Touchstone gym we’d been climbing at in LA. But it’ll be nice to belong to a gym again. And being a member gives me access to yoga (which I haven’t been able to do since I injured my shoulder) and fitness classes.

I finally got added to the sub system in the district that hired me, but I haven’t picked up a job yet. It’s nice not having to sub if I don’t want to because it means I can be picky about the schools/grades I choose. No more subbing in high school and middle school. Woohoo!

The Bridge to Bridge race was on Sunday. My friend came to visit and to run the race too. We both did really well. I ran the 12K in two minutes more than it’s been taking me to run 6.5 miles. So that was pretty exciting. But it still did not inspire me to run seriously again. Running is fun, but I’d rather climb.

What I’m reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck and Looking for Alaska by John Green. They are both awesome so far. I fell in love with John Green’s writing when I read The Fault in Our Stars (which I highly recommend). And I’ve long been a Steinbeck fan. With both of these books I hardly want to put them down. Call the Midwife has been put on hold for a bit.