Looking the Part

I met my cooperating teacher for my pre-student teaching today. I'll be in high school level I and II French classes in Warren Woods. It was pretty interesting and a little overwhelming. I think she just found out I was being placed with her a couple days ago so I don't think she was completely prepared for someone coming into her classroom. The students are hilarious. They're so cheeky and tactless that I'm cracking up almost every five minutes. Then just as I was leaving, there was a "situation" and the school had to be evacuated. I watched the news when I got home but they didn't say anything about it so I don't know what happened. I'll have to ask my cooperating teacher on Monday. I don't have to go tomorrow cause she has a sub coming in. Very nice.

After work I stopped at DSW. I figured I might need some new "teacher shoes" since I'm going to be in a classroom in front of students for 4 mornings a week. I was looking around and not really finding anything when I heard someone call out my name. I look over and there's the Queen of Shoes herself, the lovely and vivacious Miss Jackie. She was looking for shoes for a wedding. Jackie was explaining to me how she buys shoes first and then buys an outfit to complement the shoes. I've always done the opposite (not buying shoes unless I can think of at least 3 outfits to wear them with) but I'm considering trying out her method. It sounds much more exciting and fun. Unfortunately neither of us found any shoes but we were both tickled pink that we ran into each other while shoe shopping. Jackie's fun. Even if she is a hypercritical anal-retentive Virgo. Or maybe that's what makes her so fun...

Your Rose Garden has Weeds

I am filled with much rage right now. I heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" on the radio on the way home from work and although it cheered me up a little, it did not dissipate the anger. Which shows that the situation is dire indeed. It's school mostly. I'm sick of the annoying aspect of school. I got my Educational Philosophy Statement back today and I only got half the points. I think a lot of people did bad but it still sucks. And it's annoying because she didn't give concrete directions because it's supposed to be "personal and heartfelt" but then she scolds us for not addressing certain topics that she never told us to address. She didn't give examples cause she didn't want us to be influenced by anything but then nobody knew what to do. It's very lame and frustrating. We also got our school placements today. As she's telling us our placements she says, "One of you wasn't placed in the district." And I thought to myself, "Man, sucks to be that person." And it was me. Of course it's me. Cause it's not like I can catch a break or anything. It's not like I get to find happiness in life or anything. Silly Jessica. Who's been filling your head with these ideas of flowers and candy and merriment? You should know better.

Sapping my Lifeblood

My mother has been dealing with a roach problem the last couple of weeks. The exterminator guy said that it's a common problem in that section of her neighborhood. She was delighted to hear about that. So she had to move all her furniture 1-2 feet away from the walls so they can spray or whatever and her house is like an obstacle course now. When I went over on Sunday I went into the Family Room to watch TV per usual. As most of you know, my mother has cable and I have to take advantage of it when I'm there. But I couldn't find the remote. All the furniture was moved forward and stuff that had been on the floor was piled on the couch and table and the remote was nowhere to be found since it wasn't in its usual spot. I started seriously freaking out. I was tossing everything around the room and shouting, "Where's the frickin' remote?! How am I supposed to watch televison without the remote?! Why does God hate me?!" I scared my mother's cat, Guinevere, with my yelling and stomping around and she went running out of the room and hid in the living room. The tears were starting to well up in my eyes and I was about ready to give up and go read the newspaper or something when I happened to glance at one of the cabinet shelves and saw the wonderful and glorious remote. Oh, Happy Day! Thank goodness I found that remote. I think I might have had a nervous breakdown otherwise.

I Sleep with a Stuffed Animal

His name is Cuddles. He's a stuffed dog. I'm not sure what type of dog he's supposed to represent but he's brown and has lots of wrinkles. I was sleeping with 3 stuffed animals; Lila, a yellowish cat, Berry, a white bear and of course Cuddles, but Lila and Berry kept getting knocked off the bed during the night and one day I just didn't retrieve them from the floor when I went to bed. Survival of the fittest. Cuddles is the only stuffed animal that I've consistently slept with for about the last 20 years. Berry is part of a trio of white bears named Berry, Barry, and Beary (I was such a creative child, wasn't I?). I actually got Lila from my grandmother for my last birthday. I was a little concerned that I was in my 20's and receiving a stuffed cat for my birthday but the thing was really cute so I got over it pretty quickly. And it made Sarah jealous which was quite pleasing to me.

Denied

I just went to pick up the phone to call my mother but realized that Jeopardy is currently on. I'm not allowed to call her during Jeopardy.

Now I must wait.

And wait.

Still waiting.

la, la, la...

That Floor Had Better Shine Like Mr. Clean's Bald Head

An interesting side-effect of being back in school is that my apartment is much cleaner than it was during my summer break. My main procrastination tool is cleaning. Whenever I'm supposed to be reading chapters, writing papers, etc, I find something that needs to be cleaned or washed or scrubbed. Suddenly the clutter that wouldn't have bothered me in the least a month ago is unbearable and must be taken care of immediately. Currently, I'm supposed to be writing my Philosophy of Education. When I was working on it last night I realized that I had a sink full of dishes that I should really wash. The philosophy statement was put on the back-burner to take care of the dirty dishes and then I decided my kitchen cabinets could use some reorganizing. Now this morning I'm supposed to be working on it again but I keep glancing back at my bathroom and wondering, "Does my bathtub need to be scrubbed?"

Painting the town Eggshell

Raffi and I are having quite the exciting evening. I've been doing German exercises and he's been licking the catnip pillow I bought him. The fun never stops here. Tomorrow I think I'll do some dishes and Raffi will probably still be licking the catnip pillow. Good times.

With a Little Help From My Friends

I meant to do this at the beginning of the week but the Wixom Vixen can be somewhat scatterbrained and forgetful.

I'd like to give a shout-out to a dear friend who's making sure that the Wixom Vixen has enough food on her plate. You are a wonderful friend and I'm so glad that I have you in my life! Thank you for all that you've done for me and for all the help you've given me. You are one of the few truly good-hearted and kind people who's always thinking of others and I love you for that.

Okay, enough of the mush. I don't want to mar my nefarious reputation.

Book Review: Magic Tree House #1

My sister recently gave me the first book in the Magic Tree House series to read, Dinosaurs Before Dark. I'm not sure why but the child is very strange and I've long since stopped trying to decipher her motives or thought processes. I figured she would ask me what I thought of the book later so read it. And boy, am I glad I did! It had everything you could want in a Beginner Reader book. Children that you can relate to, a girl character and a boy character, short chapters and large type. We're introduced to siblings Jack and Annie in this book. Jack is the older sibling and therefore wiser and more cautious than the younger sibling of Annie who is a bit impetuous and reckless. Any older sibling reading this review can certainly relate to a capricious younger sibling! The two discover a tree house while playing near their house and find it filled with many various books. Jack is really excited when he sees all the books cause he wears glasses and therefore loves to read. He makes a wish to see a real dinosaur while reading a book on that topic and the tree house is suddenly transported back to the time of dinosaurs. Annie, being the rash and reckless younger sibling (she's shown as a blond on the cover also) actually ventures out of the tree house and starts approaching dinosaurs. Jack initially stays in the tree house and reads from the dinosaur book to discern which dinosaurs are plant-eating and which are meat-eating. As I've mentioned, Jack wears glasses and is accordingly timid and prudent. He needs to know if his sister is about to become Dinosaur Dinner right before his eyes. I don't want to ruin the suspense for you so you'll just have to read for yourself to see if Annie's foolhardy behavior lands her in trouble. And there's certainly plenty of suspense and excitement in this book! If you're not potty-trained then don't pick up this book! The chapters with the T-Rex had me on the edge of my seat and shaking in my boots! I've never been interested in dinosaurs but this book sparked my interest in the subject, at least until I finished it and saw that my new Entertainment Weekly had arrived. Using my rating scale of 4 Mimosas, I give this book 2 and 1/2 Mimosas and a Flintstone vitamin.

Mine Eyes Have Seen

When I was driving home from class this morning I felt alive. It's usually about me. I like to think about my wants and my desires. There are people in the car next to me but I don't care about them. Unless they enter my domain. If they enter into the world known as JessicaLand where it's all about me.

Do you ever wonder about the human body? There are so many things going on all at once. Why don't we break down more often?

Do I want to win the competition or do I want to beat the other person?

Bumps in the Road

I'm feeling much lighter this week. Last week I was doubting if becoming a teacher was what I really wanted to do. And that's not a good thing to be wondering about when you're tens of thousands of dollars in debt from student loans. But I think I was just nervous cause I'm getting to the final stages of becoming certified. And I'm worried about this stupid German test cause if I don't pass in October then I won't be able to student teach in January which will set me back a ways. Of course, it's Wayne State and so they probably wouldn't notice if I didn't pass.

And I hate being poor. Currently I have $5 a week to spend on groceries. Everything costs money and I don't have any. I have cavities that need to be taken care of and no dental insurance. That's several hundred dollars. I need a haircut. Raffi needs food. I have to pay $75 to retake the stupid German test. I don't have money to go out with friends and I barely have enough money to rent a video to watch by myself. My mother keeps telling me that it's just one more year and then I'll have a teaching job and an income. So I can start paying back all my debt. Yay.

Gah, now I'm depressed again. This post was supposed to be happy. Aside from the financial situation, I am happy and back on track. So smile for me. Smile!

Working the Crowd

I started my Pre-Student Teaching orientation this week and this morning I was told that I am a Teacher In Training. Or a TIT, if you prefer. The director of the Teacher Education department is very concerned with our behavior and conduct now that we're entering school districts and representing Wayne State. She keeps giving us these guidelines for appropriate conduct, behavior, dress, etc. Then she tells us stories about previous students who did not follow the guidelines and are no longer in the program. But her stories are very vague and cryptic where she never actually says what the person did but she assures us that it was bad and it was against her precious guidelines. They were bad TITs.

I also got to see some speaker/zealot-type guy when I was walking across campus. He had an easel set up with a simple drawing of a blue sky with a sun and then some symbols on the sides and he was standing in front of it talking. He had three pieces of rope of varying lengths. I stopped cause I was hoping that he would do a magic trick. I love magic tricks. And I'm not one of those people who wants to know how it's done. I prefer to be blissfully ignorant and marvel at the amazing magic being performed. Anywho, I kept waiting for the magic trick but he just kept talking about sinners and comparing different types of sinners to the different ropes. He talked about how all the ropes will burn in hell, blah, blah, fire and damnation, blah, blah, blah. I was tempted to raise my hand and ask when he was going to perform the magic trick but my stomach started growling and I decided I didn't have to time to wait till the end of the sinner lecture. But now I'm really in the mood to see some magic. I can't believe that guy would get everyone's hopes up for nothing. Now that's a sin.

Fair-Weather Friend

That's what I am, aren't I? AREN'T I???

Quizzical Stare

Everybody's all about quizzes these days. Take this quiz and it'll reveal what color socks best fit your personality. They're fun. They're simple. They're enlightening. Click, click, click and it all becomes clear. I never knew. But I always suspected. That I am a Trophy Wife.


My only question is... Where the *bleep* is my incredibly rich husband?

The Pounding in my Head Drowns out the Voices

The last thing I want to do is sound like a broken record, but the usually dormant craziness is rearing its ugly head again. I don't like being in my apartment. I pace the length of it and rub my arms to try to ward off the hurtful hands that reach out for me. My heart pounds from paranoia. Paranoia of what? I have this overwhelming dread. Of something unnamed and unseen. But I can feel it. It's right behind me. And I can't stay in this place and let it take me. But I can't go out into a world that doesn't really exist. The fear makes my heart pound so hard and I wonder if my chest can hold it in. It makes my stomach flutter and I recoil from food only to suffer from hunger pangs hours later that I'm afraid to alleviate. The only time I feel a reprieve from this distress is when I'm in the shower singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane".

I was on the phone crying to my mother the other day and inbetween the sobs I asked her, "Do you ever get upset by the fact that you got stuck with a crazy daughter?"