i will

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day :D Danny and I celebrated Saturday. Just stayed in with alcohol, video games, Magic: the Gathering, and movies.

I've made lame money the last few shifts at work. Here's hoping the weekend will be better, because we'll need the money. Haven't heard back from Baka, our real estate agent, in a few days. Last we heard, the bank's figuring out the amount left due on the loan for the place so they can come back with a counter offer. I hope they get to it very soon. We need to get the heck out of this place.

School is hectic. Well, life in general. Internship 8-4 Monday through Friday, with an hour-long commute--though I do tend to leave around 3 fairly often to get to work/uni class/mandatory seminars. Three days a week at Hard Times--generally Monday and Friday evening, plus either Saturday or Sunday. Tuesday evening class at the university. Tutoring Shane on Wednesday. And a seminar about every other week on Thursday in a random location.

Teaching is good. I vastly prefer math and reading to science or social studies. I look at science and I'm just kind of like... "What am I going to do, exactly?" There's so much to choose from, but so little time to teach it. I'm taking over science now (slowly), so it's... blah. But reading is really good. It's so freeform you can do almost anything. And the kids are really taking to their writing journals. They love getting feedback.

I had to leave early today for my IUD appointment. I am the proud owner of a Mirena IUD that cramped like a bitch for the first couple hours. It wasn't super painful, just like really heavy duty menstrual cramps. But really gross since they had me come in and get it done on my period; apparently it hurts less then. I guess it's nice of them to consider my pain over their probable preference to not have to stick their hands in a bleeding vagina. For the next week I have to use backup protection, but then I'm good for five years. What what.

Also, I'm getting published. Alt Hist picked up Death in Theatre for its second issue. It's a new magazine, but it's been reviewed by Locus, among others, so it's getting good press. So that's looking up. Not that I've been writing. I'm really busy lately and feel pretty drained, and I'd rather not write unless I really feel like it because forcing myself to in the midst of all my other crap would just not be pleasant.

And I thought I did terribly on my Praxis II tests for Middle School Math and English, but I passed with flying colors. So I'll be qualified to teach middle school, either math or English--in theory at least. I'll be applying everywhere in Montgomery County (and possibly Howard too... or maybe Anne Arundel... depends on where we're living and such...) and then weeding through my options to figure out what I want to do. Because I really don't have any desire to teach science or social studies, but I want to teach math AND reading, so... blah. Makes a choice between middle and elementary school complicated.

Guess that's it for now? I mean, I've been reading--the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and now I'm working on the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare--but eh. That's it. Overall life's good, just hectic and somewhat stressful.

Oh wait! Mirage Games accepted my response to the first work order they sent me and sent me confirmation of the credits earned, but I haven't heard about anything else forthcoming. So that's kind of sad.

Righto. I've started my internship. It's made for some long days, but it's totally worth it so far. I'll be keeping this relatively short so I can go shower and perhaps even sleep at a reasonable hour.

Thursday and Friday I went for the professional development days. Friday I woke up at 6:30, got to my internship by 8, left at 3 to get to work at 4, where work was BUSYASSHIT and I didn't get off until 1am. Now, I made $184, so it was worth it, but talk about a long day. Saturday was also very busy, but with no morning events, so not so long. Sunday I woke up at 6:30 to take Danny to the airport, dropped him off, came home and showered, then slept another hour before leaving for work at 10:40am. I was going to be late morning person, but Raechel was risking overtime if she closed lunch, so I stayed late so she could be cut before she hit overtime. I worked until about 6, made $95 or so.

Monday I went to Whetstone for the first day of school. Met all my fifth graders, and found that when I actually put effort into learning names I can pick them up very quickly. By the end of the day I knew all 23 kids even if they approached me out of context. It was a crazy first day--we had an iPod stolen before lunch and returned by the end of the day, and we have this really bright boy in class who is really disruptive and had to be removed twice for a talk... It's crazy because he's a great writer, clever, but just can't be respectful enough to keep from making all sorts of noise when other people are talking.

After school finished up at 3:45, I left for work and got there barely before 5 due to various traffic ... blahs. Worked until 9:30. Yesterday I had University classes. I thought I was done trekking across campus to the math building, but AGH my second Tuesday class is the building just PAST the math building, it's awful. All the others are in the Ed building, which is right on Lot 1, super close to where I park. After school I went up to Whetstone for the ice cream social, which was nice. Katie was there--one of the few classmates I already knew before introductions yesterday. She's super sweet.

Today I was at Whetstone again with the kids. I met the math and reading classes, which are partially homeroom kids and partially new faces, but I picked up on the new names very quickly. I helped Alice (my mentor teacher, who is beyond amazing) pick out books for reading class teams, and I get to do Ella Enchanted with one of the groups, which makes me unbelievably excited. I love that book. After that I rushed home to tutor Shane.

Tomorrow I'll be at Whetstone again, and I'll leave a little early to run pick up Danny at the airport, back from his conference in San Antonio. If he's up to it, I'll take him to Whetstone so he can see the school. If not, we can wait until later.

The only other news I have, I guess, is that I made a B in the class I was worried about! Yay, no Cs on my record.

AND OH. Did I mention that I read the third Hunger Games book, Mockingjay? It made me bawl. Danny was home for the end of it and he laughed at me crying and it pissed me off so badly. But it was an amazing conclusion. I don't think it'll be long before I'm rereading the series.

Long work week. Not even over yet, although today was considerably shorter than any of the other days I've worked since I started on Wednesday. I've been having trouble keeping up with SynTru as well as usual because of it. I let an application sit for three days, and the applicant was not pleased. I'm not sure how I feel about this--I mean, it's a little presumptuous to comment in the chatbox about how unfortunate it is to not be able to post in some forums without being accepted yet--but I do feel bad for letting it sit. It's been rough though. Yesterday and Friday I worked long doubles. Thursday I worked 4-11:30. Wednesday I worked a double, but a shorter one. Tomorrow I work in the morning, probably a long shift, but I'm fine with that. I've had a rest, and it's not a double. Tuesday is another double, but probably not bad--no graduation ceremonies to slam-pack the restaurant to the point that we're running out of clean dishes to serve with. And then Wednesday, finally, a day off! Two, in fact!

On the plus side, I've made some great money during this work week, and I've got more to look forward to this week before my schedule (hopefully) turns more normal when summer classes start the following week. This coming week is nearly as many shifts as this one--7 instead of 8--but no doubles in a row and with a break in the middle, so not so bad. I'm even considering taking a shift on Thursday... maybe... It would be 8 shifts again, and only one day off in the middle, but like I said, no doubles in a row, which is manageable. I know one of my coworkers is looking to have her Thursday night taken. She almost asked me until she saw my schedule. So yeah, maybe.

Now I just need to write. Argh. I'm planning to use our anniversary festivities at SynTru (it's been nearly a year already!) to actually finish Blood and Heat. One of our challenges is a Completion Challenge for the whole summer. For me it will be like NaNoWriMo times 3, but if I can do it... so worth it. God.

Second week of school. I took my tests at Hard Times yesterday, and today at 6 I start my first training shift. He said I might not have to stay til close, but even if I do, what's 6 to 11? Maybe midnight at the latest, I'm thinking. So far the job looks amazing. Looks like they do a lot of cuts early on when business tapers off. Very efficient. The girls that stay get more tables so a better chance of making money with fewer customers, and the girls that leave made their money during the busiest part anyway and worked maybe a three or four hour shift. Sounds nice.

Plus my food discount isn't just when I'm working, it's when I come eat there too. Just for me, not anyone I bring with me, but hey, I'll take that.

School's looking slightly overwhelming at the moment for certain classes. My math ones are fine. They're the same structure as ever. And EDCI397 looks pretty relaxed. But the other three are scheduled out the wazoo with assignments and such. Agh.

I'm on a roleplaying kick again. I hate how I move in stages. So predictable. I can't multitask, I just get really interested in one thing at a time. Lame.

I guess that's it. Nap time maybe?

Danny made me mad last night. I slept in the other room. He didn't comment on it this morning. I don't have time to go into it further.

Made Honorable Mention again in Writers of the Future, this time for Unjoined. Which is great of course; the email said I made top 5% of entries. But not what I was hoping for. Now to think of a new idea. I'm not sure I can get more creative than Unjoined, lol.

Work is screwed all to hell. I'm going in early today. Whoever's making the schedule must be a moron because there's all these gaps in coverage or one person comes in as the last person leaves so we can't stock because there's no overlap. I'm trying to apply at Hard Times Cafe in College Park; I ate there for the first time the other day and it looks pretty awesome, plus it's close to school. The owner isn't there today or I would have gone to poke around. Maybe tomorrow.

Made a doctor's appointment to have this rash I've had for months (I think from the Starbucks water) looked at. I don't see what they're going to say. There's a zillion things that can start a rash and I can't imagine how they'd figure out what's the right cause. But Danny insisted that I go to the hospital for it so I'm going on Friday.

Got to go to work.

12664 / 50000 (25.33%)

I'm so tired. Danny's at an inventory, boo. He won't be home forever. I'm gonna go to sleep now I think, 2-thousand-some-odd words is good for the night. And I have to wake up for my first class in the morning, there will be a quiz.

I worked nearly 8 and a half hours today, and the last 6 almost were by myself. So yeah, lame. But woot for daily overtime?

Okay so. I'll try to make this a long update post. I'll also try to separate it into sections of, you know, interest. So if you feel like reading something in particular, you know where to go. Lol.

Outside the cut: bigger events. Such as.

Job Interview: I have a casual interview on Monday at noon (on campus) for a tutoring position that starts at $12/hour. I'm excited about it. They got back to me right away after I submitted my info. I figured I was a ringer for the position; it required a 3.5 or higher, and I have a 3.633, plus I'm an Elementary Education major. Despite that, I wasn't really expecting to hear back. I am always suspicious of online applications. ( Continuing this, plus other work crap. )

Writers of the Future: No big news. I submitted, though, to the quarter ending September 30th. I submitted an edited version of Unjoined. I'm having all these doubts about it now, but I'm also very hopeful. I think in a lot of ways it's better than Moonfall, and that one got Honorable Mention. To be honest, I'd be pleased with semi-finalist or finalist (whichever one gets their manuscripts edited by the judges), though of course I'm really hoping to win overall. Who isn't? I just found out that in addition to the prize money, they pay you a pro rate for being published in the anthology! How nice is that? Even being a published finalist would be nice. No prize money, but you get paid the pro rate and they fly you out to the weeklong workshop in August. ( more writing hullabaloo )

( school )

I think that's it, and good thing because Dennis and Heather are here to get their party on. Lol.

Work is going well. I'm supposed to get paid tomorrow for my first three days of work, so I'll find out then what my pay is I guess. I have this worried feeling that I might grow weary of work pretty quickly working six days a week and going to school five mornings a week, and never getting up later than 8:30. But summer session one will be done in three weeks, so I guess it won't be that long really before my schedule changes up some.

So Danny just attacked me trying to press random keys on the computer, and when I pushed him away with my feet an he kept coming until my computer was open face down on my chest between me and him I was worried he might break it. And then he got mad at me for hurting him when all he wanted to do was "press a few random keys". Jeesh. Annoying man.

But anyway. Writing goes well. Of course I wrote Scheherezade (the entry before this) instead of the story I was supposed to for John and my challenge, but it's still writing, and now I have an even better idea. But I'll update with that later since I need to shower and sleep and apparently make up with Danny. Blah.

So as the last three entries attest, I've been doing some writing! RCR has been really good for inspiring me. I also added... I think only one old piece to my writing index here, and I revamped the index to include the month and year each piece was written.

Unfortunately RCR hasn't been very responsive to me since I put up my introductory post. No one has commented on any of my writing, responded to my suggestion to the staff, or replied to my critique of a member's piece. The only replies I've gotten have been from welcoming other new members and once when I commented on someone else's writing portfolio. It's only been a couple days so I'm giving it time, but if I don't feel like part of the community soon then I know myself. I'll get bored.

( ETA )