Testing, testing....

I scheduled my tests for my teaching certification.
If I pass(which I assume I will, obviously) I will be a full fledged teacher by December of this year.

I intend to be a teacher by December, and to have a teaching job by next fall.
(The above is an intention I set the other night; I repeat it daily.)

Its kind of weird to take a 'test' to teach; I taught for quite some time without a license or certificate of any kind.

Its also kind of weird to be a 'student' again.

I hated school when I was a kid. Hated college when I was a young adult.

I got bored. Bored with teachers and professors who just wanted me to repeat their words back to them, bored with other students who seemed to take forever to grasp simple concepts.
I skipped classes. Refused to study. Never turned in homework.

Somehow, I still passed.


Its a little bit different with this. I can't bullshit my way into good grades and can't turn in special projects to bring my grade up at the end of the semester.
Just a lot of memorization and regurgitation.

It bores the hell out of me. But I'm doing it anyways, because it means I can go back to teaching.

And then I'll be the one giving the tests.

Tomatoes in the morning

So this summer I've been co-gardening with a good friend of mine.
She did all of the early summer work with the knowledge that I would be taking care of the garden through most of July and August when she was out of town.


The other day I was coming home from my morning walk and when i checked on our little plots, I realized that TWO of the tomatoes had turned red overnight!
They've been green for what seemed like forever, so this bright blush of color was unexpected and exhilarating.

I took a picture with my fancy new phone and emailed it to her.
She emailed back and informed me that the tomatoes on her porch had also turned red overnight so that i should pick these and use them.

I picked them.
I walked home, cradling them in my arms.
I sat on the porch and looked at them for a while. And thought about how a ten cent package of seed, plus hours of labor, had yielded this triumphant moment.

WE GREW TOMATOES!!!

I went inside and started the percolator, listening to the coffee drip.
I toasted an english muffin and spread it with cream cheese.
I took out my favorite knife and sliced a thick slice of fresh warm tomato.
I cooked an egg over medium.
I slid the egg and the tomato onto the english muffin, poured myself a cup of coffee, and took it all outside.

I sat down, took a sip, then a bite.
And found bliss.

And thought about the meaning of life, and how the greatest pleasures I've found have always been the simplest ones.

Sitting on my porch laughing with friends. Walking through the park and watching the squirrels chase each other up the trees. Eating bread fresh out of the oven.

And I thought about how lucky I am to have all of these things in my life.

29 DAYS UNTIL FEST!!!

Thats all.

29 long long l-o-n-g days..........

So much to do, so many outfits to plan, so much packing and re-packing.

29 days.

I lost my pants.

I lost my pants. My favorite black pants.
They fitted tight around my booty, and flared slightly past my thighs. Cuffed at the bottom.

I have no fucking idea what happened to them.
No idea.

I've searched my apartment over and over.
Called everyone whose home I frequent to ask if I had, by chance, left them there.
(Then realized that I go OVER to people's houses without pants on, not LEAVE people's houses without pants on. I am a lady, after all.)

The only explanation is that they blew away when I was drying them on the front porch.
I do this frequently. Dryers wreak havoc on clothes, especially ninety dollar dress pants.


So they're gone.

The pants I wore weekly when I was teaching.
The pants i put away for my little foray into the super-fun-and-informal- job-where-I-didn't-have-to-dress-up(that ruined about eight months of my life).
The pants I brought out, dusted off, and started wearing again when I found a job that actually paid a living wage.
The pants whose cuffs I fixed with superglue not two weeks ago.

Gone.


Last week I returned some clothing to a dear friend who informed me, "Oh, wow, I've been looking for this! I have four pieces of cloothing I just haven't been able to find."

At the time, I thought, "How does one lose clothing?"

Now I know.