Changes, changes, changes

My, I let things go for a week or so and so many things happen! This is why I've always had trouble keeping a diary. Let's see how I can manage to catch things up...

• Visit from my parents was wonderful! I had been worried that they might be critical of how I still have some boxes around and none of our artwork is on the walls, but they were just impressed that the house was neat and clean (we have to keep it that way due to Pros' horrible allergies to Pandora the Wonder Kitty). We took them to a few of the best restaurants in town and gave a driving tour of the local college campus. Unfortunately, my mother's health kept us from doing too much walking, but she seemed to enjoy everything she could see. Saturday night dinner with our friends was the best night. Dad was almost in performance mode, he was so charming! Considering we had a six year old and two bottles of wine at the table, there were no disasters. They also realized that we need no housewarming gifts because we're drowning in possessions, so we got $200 to help make ends meet.
• Speaking of cash, I've just taken a second part-time job, once again at a place that will benefit me in ways other than just financially. I'll be at Curves, which is a workout center for women only (the guys just wouldn't enjoy the stuff, so it isn't exactly discriminatory). At first, I was a little worried about working at a place that is known for having a Xtian agenda, but the owner is much more about health issues than picketing Planned Parenthood. With luck, this will allow me to leave the wine shop when it starts to get dangerous to walk to my car at night at the end of the night.
• There's a mess going on at my college radio station. I'm going to get much more into detail about it on my group blog (Dandelionfiles), but the jist of it is that a local PBS station is trying to take over this frequency and shove the students off the air in favor of an NPR format. To make it worse, there's already an NPR station in town (started by WMUH alum) that would be shafted if this went through. I'm currently helping with the rabblerousing to keep the college from killing one of the best hands-on communications programs they have.

Whew! This is what I get for waiting so long to update!

One of those quiz thingys

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? Somewhere in the mountains. I'm not picky about which mountain, but I want an A-frame house in the mountains.
2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? My blue and black scarf / sarong. Why can't I wear it more often in public?
3. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE MALE SINGER? Rufus Wainwright. The man has pipes and a songwriting ability to match.
4. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE SINGER? Kate Bush. Anyone else in the universe trails in second.
4. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND? I would say Vent Silence (my brother's band at http://www.ventsilence.com/ ), but they will most likely split by next spring. Damn shame!
4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? 7:30 or so, although that will change once I start subbing!
5. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? The rice cooker, although I'm trying to avoid it for a few months.
6. FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC? Female vocalists from most genres. Goes back to my radio show days.
7. FAVORITE COLOR: Blue, although I tend to wear a lot of black.
8. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? It's a tie between D'Aulaire's Mythology and The Phantom Tollbooth. It depends on if I want to look at gorgeous pictures while I read or if I want to just have my brain expanded.
9. FAVORITE SEASON: Autumn, as long as I can have Sudafed.
10. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Time Control.
11. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY? Thursday. I'm all about the anticipation of the weekend, since the weekend itself rarely lives up to it.
12. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, CHINESE OR MEXICAN FOOD? Mexican, due to my passion for sour cream.
13. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND
FIRST? Hmmm, maybe Laurali, if her email is working.
14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAL? Ostrich with wilted spinach from Marco Polo. Damn, I miss that place!
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Carnations, although I prefer seeing flowers when they are unpicked.
16. FAVORITE THING TO DO WITH SPARE TIME? Watch bad television with that special someone... although I can't seem to get the cat to understand the concept behind Most Extreme Challenge. KIDDING!

Official engaggment photo

I know, I know, two photos in a row with very little to say. We'll get to all the news soon enough. Besides, my parents are coming out here in a few days, so there will be PLENTY of material!

Clever cartoon answers modern mess

I've always loved Dangermouse and Penfold. This just says volumes in a much funnier way than I can manage.

Since last I blogged...

Well, on this blog, anyway. I'm also on Dandelionfiles, but that's more of a group piece than the solo kvetching I do here.

At any rate, a couple of things have happened about the money situation. First, my dad realized he cost me a nice chunk of my deposit from my last apartment when he broke the handle off the back door. He also launched my monitor across the back porch, which would have been comical if I could now turn the damn thing on and off. The point is that he just sent me a check to cover the cost of the door as well as covering my flat tire, which I didn't have a way of covering other than my overused credit card. Second, my doctor / gal pal just faxed my resume to one of her other doctor pals. This should hopefully get me out of the wine shop soon.

Wine shop, actually, is losing jobslack rapidly. I'm tired of arguements with the owner of work schedules, and I'm REALLY tired of the lack of income. I'll delay subbing for a few months if I can have a job that pays enough we don't have to worry so much about the bills. Anything to keep Pros and I happy!

Dog days of flat broke summer

It's getting terribly tight here financially. When I originally agreed to move here, it was with the understanding that I'd have a summer job waiting for me that I could keep part time. It fell through about a month before my arrival, far too late for me to put my moving plans on hold. I'd forgotten how frightening it is to be underemployed! I'm only working about 20 hours a week for $10 an hour. Granted, the cost of living here is low, but I'm in the uncomfortable position of deciding what bills I can afford to pay. Pros is working a summer internship, but he's been sick on and off and is now only working four days a week so he can concentrate on the beginning research for his thesis.

My greatest source of relief is remembering that my substitute teaching orientation is a week from tomorrow. I don't know how long I can handle such a small amount of take-home pay, especially when Pros will have a major gap between his final pay from his internship and his first stipend check from the University. May have to figure out a way to put next month's rent on a credit card or something.

Ah well, these are the times that make or break couples starting out a new life together. Marriage isn't always going to be smooth, so this cohabitational tightness is good practice.

I'm going to stop typing for a while and go downstairs to spend some time with the person who makes this all worthwhile.

Alternate answers

Why DO I want to be a teacher, anyway?

• It beats the hell out of Barnes & Noble, the final resting place for underemployed English majors.
• The health benefits are usually amazing compared to most jobs I've had. Most places don't cover anti-allergy drugs because we can get Claritin over the counter. FUCK Claritin! It's barely more effective than a placebo, and most work places (including classrooms) are a pit of mold that kills my allergies.
• Someone needs to protect / guide the class nerds and outcasts. Who better than someone who was driven to a nervous breakdown in 10th grade and then bounced back?
• June, July, August. Ah, three months of dreading the first day back in the classroom.
• Finally, a reason to show off my memorization of the opening of Canterbury Tales in Middle English other than to mess with the heads of drunks at parties.
• Finally, a reason to declare my collection of Simpsons DVDs as a tax writeoff. Show The Raven or Streetcar Named Desire just once, collect my return later.
• I'm genetically programmed to suck at everything else.
  

Photos, photos everywhere...

Will the real Jacklyn Hyde PLEASE explain the other photos?

Small, Medium or Large?

Columbus is a medium sized city. This is something I have to keep in mind while dealing with other people and with situations. Twice this week I've talked to someone, in both cases fellow transplants to the area, who referred to this place as "the Big City" with such reverence that I thought we had landed in Oz.

"Folks, I came here from Philly... yes, the place with the steaks. Yes, I do know how to order correctly from Pat's, but my point is that this really isn't THAT big of a metropolis. If I was able to find a parking spot within two blocks of where I had to go, this isn't a big city."

On the other hand, I did just move here from a very small town outside of Philadelphia. Jenkintown has a gazebo in Town Square where they have ice cream socials and free concerts. There were a few arrests in the area, but most of them were for drunken driving or unruly behavior. Yes, the Big City entered on occasion, like the time an escaped prisoner was pinned down at gunpoint under my window, but for the main part the only noise was the Irish folk dancing classes across the street. MAN, those people can stomp!

That was the town I missed this weekend when I found out my left rear tire had been punctured with either an ice pick or a screwdriver. Jenkintown doesn't have good and bad neighborhoods because it's too small. Columbus has bad neighborhoods, and I laughed at the idea that they could be worse than North Philly. They aren't, but the kids here are just as bored as they are there.

Welcome to life in the City, I suppose!

REAP Question #1

What are your three (3) most important reasons for wanting to be a teacher?

1) When I was fifteen years old, an adult with whom I was close charged me to "save the world one person at a time." This thought has been with me for years. To date, working with students at the age I was at that time is the best way I can fathom fulfilling this charge.

2) My parents have provided the perfect examples of why education is the most fulfilling career imaginable. Both of them teach at my former high school, and they seem happiest when in the classroom. They have supported me in every way in my work to join their ranks.

3) After more than ten years out of college and in the private sector, there was no perfect match. After three months of student teaching, I now know there is no place that I will find a greater match for my skills. There is no other place where I am more at home than looking into the faces of my students.

Happy Monthiversary!

Here we go...

Today is two months since I packed up my apartment in suburban Philadelphia and began the move out to Columbus, Ohio. I'd been working on this move for what seems like years, since Pros and I first decided that our relationship needed to be more than a long-distance occasional fling. I wish I could say it's always been easy. I'm finding myself in the terrifying position of being almost totally reliant on one person for everything from shelter to daily contact. Pros is the person I'm supposed to be with, and I'm so glad I'm here, but BOY, is this transition a bitch!

Luckily, Lynx (one of my pre-existing Ohio friends) has been good enough to bring me into the Blogger Circle. It makes me feel a lot better that I have someone to talk to, even if it's a group of anonymous readers. Please be patient with me if you stumble into my words. I'll try to make the story more distinct as I put it into better perspective while moving forward in my new life here in Ohio.

Hope the journey is fun for all!