Get to know your Friends...Christmas version.

My cousin tagged me with this Christmas survey, and I decided to use this venue to respond rather than send it to everyone in my contacts list

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags, no creativity or coordination required.

2. Real or Artificial tree? I prefer real but artificial is more practical for me.

3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever Mom has a day off and gets tired of looking at it.

5. Do you like Eggnog? I like the taste but the texture is a bit thick for me.

6. Favorite Gift you received as a child? My binoculars I got from when I was 8, they still sit on my bookshelf even though one crystal is out of alignment.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? I don't actually have any decorations at all.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My parents.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My sisters, movies all around.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I can't think of one!

11. Christmas Cards...or e-cards? E-cards, fast, convenient, and free.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I have free time.

14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present? Probably, but I can't recall an exact occasion.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Food!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored and flashing, it's hypnotic.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Have yourself a merry little Christmas

18. Travel at Christmas or Stay Home? Either, it changes from time to time.

19. Can you name Santa's Reindeer? That depends, is it Donner or Donder?

20. Do you have an Angel or a Star on top of your tree? If I had a tree up, it would probably be a star, but the folks have an Angel right now.

21. Open the Presents Christmas Eve or Morning? Always Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People who are rude or impatient with clerks at the store or complain loudly about waiting in line. Patience people. We are all waiting in line and have other places to go. Just try to be happy and it will affect those around you. :) Nicely put, Em.

23. Shopping...Mall or on-line? Mostly online, I like the convenience. I can ship it straight to its destination and it gives me a chance to comparison shop.

24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all?) Not at all, next year I think I will have more time and space for such things.

25. Favorite Christmas cookie? Homemade sugar cookies.

26. Do you own Christmassy clothing or jewelry? Yes. T-shirts and socks, and maybe pjs

27. Do you believe in Santa? You don't believe, you don't recieve! :)

Your turn. Take it and go!

--
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

Workin' In a Coal Mine

As the great quest for gainful employment continues we find our young heroine lost on the wrong side of the tracks. Friendless and frightened she wanders though the run down shacks and back allies of "that side of town." When all seems hopelessly lost she stumbles upon a friendly face.

"You seem a bit lost there stranger. Can I help you find your way?"

"Thank you, sir, I am a bit lost," she replies, "I am here looking for work, and can't seem to find any."

"What kind of work do you do?" he asked.

"I am a teacher, a science teacher."

"Why, what a coincidence I am a principal and am in need of science teacher. Why not come work for me?"

"I think I shall, thank you."

Of course the interview wasn't quite so easy as all that, but it might as well have been. I am a science teacher in an open market. There are more vacancies than teachers, as evidenced by my bulging voice mail. Come work for me. No come work for me. The principals can't fill the openings for the current science requirement and the state is pushing to increase it. Soon high schools will require all students have 4 years of English, math and science.

In the end, I will benefit from such desperation as I have been offered, and have accepted the offer to begin teaching full time in January at a school where the population is very low income, the technology is behind, and the roofs leak (actually that last one isn't true, it just helped the sentence flow better). Actually, the school isn't so bad. It doesn't pay as well as some others, but the benefits are good and there is a lot of opportunity for advancement. It has block scheduling so I will have 3 classes a day. One Remedial Biology, one General Biology, and one AP Biology. Yes, you read that right. My very first semester teaching and I will be given the responsibility of teaching an AP class. This means a lot of work for me. I have to prep for 3 different classes and write the curriculum for the AP class, but the experience will be very valuable for me as my career progresses. As for the school, apparently it has been declared a neutral zone by the local gangs. I had a chance to meet some of the students and I think I am going to like it there. The administration is very supportive and they have an excellent mentoring program for new teachers. All in all, I am very excited to be an Owl and I am looking forward to the straining new challenge.

All Aboard!

It is happened, it has finally happened...Oh dear, she has finally lost her mind. What do you mean finally? If I am not mistaken the last vestiges of sense went out the window when I chose to teach science to 15 year olds. No, the finally, I am talking about is the posting of my teacher certification test scores. Drum roll please, dadadadadadadadadadad, I failed! What? No, of course I didn't fail, what a terrible ending that would have been. It's like Darth Vader confessing to Luke, "I am completely unrelated to you and am going to kill out of an inflated sense of self importance." What a box office flop. So, yes I passed. The graduation train is running at full steam. Next stop, Convocation.