Do you not know, have you not heard?

Attention concert-goers: When the band stops playing their song, says thank you, and exits the stage, the concert is not over. There is this crazy thing called an "encore." We all play along and clap until the band returns, when we cheer even louder, feigning surprise, and they play two to three more songs. You should come to expect this. And, they are usually some of the bands biggest hits that you want to hear. So, sit back, relax. Your car will still be there and leaving isn't really going to make traffic that much easier. If the lights are not on, the concert is not over.

This has been a public service announcement.

Boxes

Monday I kayaked.

Tuesday I spun.

Wednesday I yoga'd.

Thursday I surfed.

Friday I biked.

This summer I have turned over a new leaf and have decided to be active as much as possible. The nice thing about not working is that I have plenty of time to explore new hobbies, go to the gym, and try to fulfill my goal of being in the best shape of my life.

I was never athletic growing up. The only sport I ever played was volleyball in 7th grade-they needed one more player to form a team and my friend Hannah convinced me to join. To give you an indication of my skill level, I actually thought it was called "Ballyball" until the day I saw the sign up sheet in the girls locker room. It did not go well from there.

I dabbled in dance in high school, but only to get out of PE, and once that was done, so was I. My friends swam; I took pictures of them for the yearbook. My friends played water polo; I wrote an article about the water polo team for the school newspaper. You get the idea.

So, I've always thought that I just wasn't a sporty person-that I could make myself go to the gym to lose weight, but that I'd never enjoy working out and certainly assumed that sports or other athletic activities were beyond my reach.

This summer I discovered a new side to myself. I am by no means a super athlete-organized sports still sounds mildly terrifying to me. But, I started with riding my bike on the beach path near my house. Then I went on a few hikes with friends. Then kayaking. And this week I attempted to add surfing to the mix (which certainly needs more work). And I have enjoyed all of them. I am learning to play catch and have made it a goal to learn to play softball well enough that I don't humiliate myself on a co-ed softball team next year.  I have also been enjoying spinning and yoga classes at the gym, and dare I say it, I actually look forward to all these things.

What is my point? I'm sort of rambling here, but I guess I'm realizing that I don't necessarily fit into the box that I created for myself for several years. And that's good-it means I am not completely set in my ways-I am not finished growing and learning and changing, and I like that. So, my few blog readers, what boxes have you put yourself in? I say kick apart the cardboard and try something new!

Summer Resolutions

1. Make it to church three out of four Sundays per month.

2. Work out four times a week.

a. Michelle Obama arms...or at least no bat wing arm jiggle...

b. Best shape of my life

3. Use my bread machine once a week.

4. Go to the doctor for physical, check on knees, eye doctor, and dentist.

5. Get my date on.

6. Ocean Kayaking!!

7. read read read read read read read read read read read read

8. Have fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the t-bird away.

9. If Getty happy hour exists, go to it.

10. Stroll & Savor

11. Free movies on the beach in Long Beach!

a. Harry & the Hendersons on July 14th

Thinking Positve Thoughts

Things that made my day/restored my faith in humanity today:

My good friend at work, Christina Soris, got her job back today. She is an awesome, strict, passionate teacher (the kids call her the DinaSoris), and she will not be layed off.

The yearbooks came out yesterday and an 8th grade boy yelled across the hall at me this morning, "Ms. Fletcher, I LOVE the yearbook!!!!"

Another good friend at work, Juliet, told me that a friend of hers who had lung cancer and went through chemo is now cancer free.

I had a really interesting conversation about religion with my students today, since I am teaching Rome and am thus teaching Christianity.

As of today there is only one week left until summer vacation. And this place is crazy, and it stresses me out and occasionally makes me cry, but you know what? I think I am actually going to miss it a little over the next few months.

Books, books, books.

Today, the Carnegie poetry books arrived. The students submitted poems, I typed them all (or most of them. A few of them were high tech and gave them to me on a flash drive), and had them printed via lulu.com. The book is called Mind & Soul. It came out pretty nicely. Check it out here: http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=6944322

The kids who are in the book get a free copy, thanks to a grant that we received. Wesley yelled about a hundred times, "I'm on page 23!" Stephanie keeps reading hers while she's supposed to be doing other work in history (which I am benig nice about, but making her do her work.) To be honest, putting the book together was a big pain, as is opening the boxes of each set of 10, which are double wrapped in plastic. BUT, I must be cliche and say that seeing the kids get excited makes all the hard work worth it.

Now, I must go and finish getting them distributed, since my yearbooks are due to arrive tomorrow. It's a busy week!

Donuts

This morning I brought my homeroom donuts. I told them that if they raised $300 in the Pennies for Patients fundraiser (which benefits and leukemia and lymphoma society) I would bring them donuts, and today I followed through on my end of the bargain, purchasing two and a half dozen donuts on the way to work.

Remember when you'd get a treat at school? Cupcakes on someone's birthday, cookies as a reward, whatever. I love sweets. LOVE them, to this very day. The fact that I did not open the box this morning and eat all their donuts makes me think I deserve some sort of medal. So, when I was in class and we got a treat, I was always very excited, and ate my snack immediately. Not like I stuffed my face and had crumbs everywhere, but I ate it right away.

And then. And then, I would look around five minutes later and be in total awe of the kids who still had the entire cookie on their desk, untouched. HOW did they manage this? I mean, even as an adult, I am impressed by the kids who right now, 45 minutes after I gave them the donuts, have not eaten them yet. Some of them wrapped them in their napkins, to enjoy at nutrition (which I don't get...half the fun is that you get to eat in class!). But, even more amazing is the boy sitting a few feet from me who has taken bites of his chocolate twist donut periodically, but still has over half of it left. It's just sitting there while he reads his history book. WHA? I can barely contain myself from going over there and eating it, I don't know how in the world he can manage this feat. Who are these people? And what kind of self-control will they have as adults...these people could probably buckle down and go to medical school or run marathons, or just say no to drugs forever.

...although the boy in question is tardy EVERYDAY to first period...I guess we all have our weaknesses.

Earthquake

This is the conversation I have had at least twenty times today:
"Ms. Fletcher, did you feel the earthquake!?"
"Yes, I did. Did you?"
"Yeah!..."
Then the student tells me how they were sleeping, in the shower, in their mom's room, doing their homework ("So you can't get mad if it's messy!" Wesley cheerfully told me.)

I roll my eyes internally, but really I did the same thing last night. It's tradition. I called my mom right away and asked her "did you feel the earthquake?" We made fun of the people who call in to the news, "It was more of a rolling motion." Then I talk my roommate down from the ledge and tell her that California is a nice place to live, and that "The Big One" is BS, just like how when it rains it's immediately "Storm Watch!!" and I go check my room to see what fell over (a picture frame, not broken.) It's nice to have these traditions for natural disasters-especially when the disaster isn't so disasterous.