scary stuff that i need to let off my chest... i find out tomorrow (or at least, i start the process of finding out) if something a doctor found in me is cancerous. i've been waiting a LONG ASS TIME, for months on end, but the FUCKED UP HMO system made it wayyy more complicated than it should have been. i even had a mini-breakdown from the frustration of even trying to be SEEN by a specialist. i get to be SEEN tomorrow.... finally. *hold breath*

who invented taxes? arghghh! i hate paperwork. it's report card season now too. i just spent hours in front of all my record keeping stuff and my laptop typing in grades. what a waste. all my parents know how their kids are doing. i talk to them regularly and send them informal progress reports periodically. in fact, who invented paper?!? i hate paperwork. i also went through a year's worth of receipts writing down all the stuff i spent on classroom materials and resources. it's around 15% of my entire salary. considering i give my parents more than 50% of my salary to help support them, i think i live off a pretty good chunk of change. i was kinda shocked to think about all that, but really, what is it that i do? my life revolves around my work. that's why i can afford to stay at school til 8pm, don't got a family to take care of. and i just need money for rent, car (already paying for my second car... gave my first car to my mom), food, and other basic things. no kids (my students are my kids!). when i shop, i buy things for my students and classroom. for all you teachers out there, u know what i'm talking about: target, big lots, 99c store, ross... can u contain the excitement?? i haven't even shopped for clothes for myself in... i dont' even know how long. i know it's been within a year at least. kind of embarrassing, i have all these socks with holes in them, and when i go to other people's houses and take off my shoes... eep. maybe i'm kinda overdoing it?

anyhow, even if i wanted to spend money i don't even have the time. i have afterschool tutoring, auditing a class at ucla, have a reading group i started up, meetings afterschool for the various councils i serve on, students and families to visit at homes, chinatown collective business on weekends, in addition to soccer on select weekends with some community organizing folks (anyone else game?), and various conferences, rallies, underground/radical shows to attend and support, fundraising events to attend, big corporations to boycott (which, in turn, means gotta scope out the mom and pop shops), and the list doesn't end.

ahhhh~ back to the kind of life i've always known... nice and busy! =)

my spring break is almost over. i was able to get a lot of errands done, worked in my classroom a little (shhh), and took students to the california science museum. it was the first time i actually maxed out my passenger capacity of 7! oh wait, 6 passengers + 1 driver. so yes, people capacity of 7! gotta put my car to good use. took my cousins out for bowling, watched some movies, went shopping, bought a house, you know, typical things like that. =)

as far as school itself, now is the season i begin to dread. it is around late april-may that the standardized testing craze begins. i hate it. my kids probably hate it too, but i try to make it as enjoyable as possible (haha). the matrix discussion begins, which is what teachers will be where, or what positions will be open. i need to decide soon if i'm going to stay in 1st grade, or move to 3rd and try to get my first year kids back. most likely i will do the latter, and i know for certain that there are many 3rd grade positions opening next year. then i can stay in 3rd grade another year to get my kids THIS year back. that would all work out so well with my master plan. but first, i must think about this year. so far my master plan with regards to my administrators is also working out, especially so because of all my encounters with them through the various "leadership" positions i hold. i have my head fixated on the teacher union chair position next, perhaps even next year... ah yes, the politics of education. so fun.

speaking of fun, time for TAXES!!! O_O i need to get on that.

a day in the life of someone serving jury duty during their spring break:

yes, it is my spring break. i was summoned for jury duty almost a year ago. they kept wanting me to come in during weeks that i was teaching. there is no way i'm getting sub for that. so i kept postponing it, but i have to serve within a year's time of my original summons otherwise they could charge up to $1,500. so i pushed it back to my spring break. i dedicated my entire spring break for this. i call in the week before, and they tell me i have to go in monday at 8. whee. i was so excited i could hardly control myself... =/

so i got there, and u do a heck of a lot of waiting. wait wait wait...i must say i got a great deal of work done. brought my laptop, all my kids' homework, and some applications that had to be filled out. anyway, they call the first group of possible jurors at 11:30. my name is not called. then we break for lunch. then we come back, they call another group. i'm not called again. another group, no call. and finally... one more time. finally at 3:30, i'm freeeeeee!!!! by waiting all day and being the leftover bunch, i had officially completed my jury service. don't have to go back again for another year. =) so happy. so this week that i reserved for jury service is completely free. and to think i was fretting all day trying to conjure up reasons and excuses to get out of it.

oh, some really big news. helped the family buy a house to live in. i'm moving to carson this summer. my mom is happy because she will finally get to live with me, my dad will definitely be happy (it has a lawn and a backyard, my dad loves gardening), and my brother probably doesn't care where we live. however, parking is great, it has a 2-car garage and 2 additional cars can fit on the driveway. anyway, there's also plenty of street parking as well. as for me... we'll see how things go. i'm happy for my family, but i foresee some family tension and issues that will most likely arise during my stay with them. it was agreed, however, that after about a year i could move elsewhere again if i want to. i'ma give it a shot. they need me financially, and i want to make sure my family is ok. let us see...

well, life as a teacher is moving right along. i just presented at a teacher conference this weekend, and it went well! i presented the work of my students and talked about my class and whatnot. the teachers who attended were pleased and asked lotsa questions. my principal and vp both sat in on our session, too. they had nice things to say as well. my plan is alllll working out... what do i mean by that? u shall see in a year's time. =) i must first wait until i am tenured. anyhow, even at the end of the conference, i got a compliment on the elevator from one of the workshop attendees! i'm glad it was useful to them.

also in the works: i got elected to the School Site Council last month, and just last week i also got elected onto the School Leadership Council. i'm hoping that this way i can actually find out what the heezy is going ON at our whack ass school. things are run in really shady ways. i thought maybe i'd know more this year being the grade level chair, but that's a joke. unfortunately there is this individual on our grade level who is in the profession for all the wrong reasons, and he obviously has something against me. i think that ish is funny too, the immaturity and lack of professionalism he displays. ah, the realities of having such co-workers.

spring break is fast approaching and i can't WAIT for it to begin!! i get to serve on jury duty!! shoot me! that is involuntary servitude and that is unconstitutional. why, i ask. why...