So I finally got into the subbing system in Des Moines... I haven't been getting calls every day, so that is kind of a bummer. But I still have had some work, which is better than nothing. And you know, I don't really need THAT much money to get by. I just like to keep busy. But anyway, I like it so far and it has been a good chance for me to get to know some of the schools that are around here, which is nice. Behavior is not always the greatest (come on, we all know that everyone likes to goof off on days that the teacher is gone), but I've met some really great kids too, and that balances it all out :)
I applied for a naturalist position with Story County Conservation... for those of you who don't know, a "naturalist" is basically an environmental educator who travels to different schools and hosts events to teach kids (and sometimes adults) about nature... if you know me, you know this would be a perfect job for me... so we'll see how it goes! The job posting is still open for a while, so I probably won't hear anything back for a couple of weeks.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Remember that time I said I was horrible at long distance communication?
... yeah, that's still true.
But I still feel bad about it, and I know that at least my mom and grandma are wondering what I'm up to, even if nobody else cares.
These days, weekends and week days aren't too different, except for the fact that weekends are more fun because I don't have to spend them at home by myself. Since my internship at the Refuge ended (right before Christmas), I've been spending a lot of time trying to get onto sub lists and applying for random teaching jobs that occasionally appear in the middle of the school year (which begs the questions: how does that happen? Did somebody get fired? Is this class traumatized and likely to hate me for the rest of the year?)... and I don't know how many of you have ever tried to apply for a teaching job before, but it requires massive amounts of paperwork and hoop jumping. Glowing letters of recommendation, a perfect resume, and usually they end up hiring somebody they've known about for 5 years anyway. So that's fun. But anyway. It's only been like 2 weeks since schools got back from winter break, so I guess I'm just being impatient. Good things come to those who wait...
These past few days have had a lot of action in them, so here's some of the stuff that has been going on:
Last Wednesday: I applied for a 2nd grade teaching position.
Last Thursday: I applied for another 2nd grade teaching position.
Friday I got a physical so that I am able to apply for even more subbing positions. This also means that I (finally) have a doctor in Des Moines. He seems like a pretty nice guy and also seems like he knows what he is talking about. I learned that I have amazingly low blood pressure and that I am now over 5'7". And I don't have tuberculosis, if anyone was wondering (and apparently a lot of school districts are!).
Saturday B and I went to a triathlon expo... guess whose idea that was! (Hint: I hate running and don't know how to swim). Even though I wasn't really all that interested in a lot of the stuff there, it was still pretty fun and I got free shirts from HyVee, so that's a plus. One of B's old high school friends was there, so she showed us around. B ended up joining the triathlon club, which is not at all surprising. Now if I could just find a biking club, things would be pretty near perfect in that area!
Sunday we went to a new church, the Urbandale United Church of Christ... B picked this one because of they are inclusive to GLBT folks (That's Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered, for those who are less familiar with that culture)... I don't dislike church, but I dislike when I go to a new one and feel like I'm being judged for something I can't even control. And B really likes going to church, so we have been looking for a new one that both of us like since we moved here last summer. But everybody at this one was super friendly and we both liked the sermon a lot, so I think we'll probably be heading back there sometime. Their welcome packet even came with a bag of popcorn that said "We hope you POP in again soon!" And you know I'm a sucker for terrible puns.
After church we were pretty busy... we got donuts at the Donut Hut (they're good!), went home and cleaned up for a bit, had lunch with a friend, watched B's niece for a little while, made hamburger stroganoff for dinner, and then had another friend over for a night full of Disney movies... we watched 3 movies in a row! We also made monster cookies, which are delicious as always.
Monday was the MLK day of service, so B and I spent our morning at the Refuge, cleaning (which basically means removing the caps) and planting bur oak acorns. Our group of 10 or so volunteers planted 810 acorns! We planted so many because we're not really sure how many will grow. And I know what you're thinking... why were we planting trees at a prairie Refuge? Bur oak savannas are actually a very important part of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. You can read more about it here (This is a Wikipedia page, so you won't be able to read it until tomorrow because of their SOPA protest). It was a lot of fun! I love being out at the Refuge... it's good for the soul to work outside and do something positive to help restore the land.
Monday night Community Band rehearsals started up again. We had a little break after our winter concerts... which is fine because everybody was running around getting ready for the holidays, and nobody would have been practicing anyway. The break from rehearsals was nice, but I'm glad they've started up again. Most of the people in band are kind of old, but they're all really friendly and nice to talk to, so that makes me happy. And having a creative outlet like music is good for everyone involved.
And finally, Tuesday... last night a few brass players from Community Band played at the Salisbury house for a "knighting" ceremony of a 15-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy. The boy really likes King Arthur and knights and things of that nature, so his family and friends wanted to put together a night to celebrate him in a fun and unique way. B's brother's coworker had been looking for somebody to play a couple of fanfares during the ceremony. And B is pretty much the most amazing person ever (as you all know), so she bit the bullet and sent out emails to the Community Band and organized all of the people to play... and luckily, one of them likes to arrange music, and another one owns a piccolo trumpet... so we had a couple of great fanfares and a solid sounding brass quintet (3 trumpets, a piccolo trumpet, and a trombone). I think that everyone involved with the event really appreciated it, so that was good.
Wow! I think that this is long enough. Just a quick update of what we've been doing lately! Hopefully I'll write in this thing more often! Let me know that you're reading, maybe that will give me more motivation to post in the future :)
But I still feel bad about it, and I know that at least my mom and grandma are wondering what I'm up to, even if nobody else cares.
These days, weekends and week days aren't too different, except for the fact that weekends are more fun because I don't have to spend them at home by myself. Since my internship at the Refuge ended (right before Christmas), I've been spending a lot of time trying to get onto sub lists and applying for random teaching jobs that occasionally appear in the middle of the school year (which begs the questions: how does that happen? Did somebody get fired? Is this class traumatized and likely to hate me for the rest of the year?)... and I don't know how many of you have ever tried to apply for a teaching job before, but it requires massive amounts of paperwork and hoop jumping. Glowing letters of recommendation, a perfect resume, and usually they end up hiring somebody they've known about for 5 years anyway. So that's fun. But anyway. It's only been like 2 weeks since schools got back from winter break, so I guess I'm just being impatient. Good things come to those who wait...
These past few days have had a lot of action in them, so here's some of the stuff that has been going on:
Last Wednesday: I applied for a 2nd grade teaching position.
Last Thursday: I applied for another 2nd grade teaching position.
Friday I got a physical so that I am able to apply for even more subbing positions. This also means that I (finally) have a doctor in Des Moines. He seems like a pretty nice guy and also seems like he knows what he is talking about. I learned that I have amazingly low blood pressure and that I am now over 5'7". And I don't have tuberculosis, if anyone was wondering (and apparently a lot of school districts are!).
Saturday B and I went to a triathlon expo... guess whose idea that was! (Hint: I hate running and don't know how to swim). Even though I wasn't really all that interested in a lot of the stuff there, it was still pretty fun and I got free shirts from HyVee, so that's a plus. One of B's old high school friends was there, so she showed us around. B ended up joining the triathlon club, which is not at all surprising. Now if I could just find a biking club, things would be pretty near perfect in that area!
Sunday we went to a new church, the Urbandale United Church of Christ... B picked this one because of they are inclusive to GLBT folks (That's Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered, for those who are less familiar with that culture)... I don't dislike church, but I dislike when I go to a new one and feel like I'm being judged for something I can't even control. And B really likes going to church, so we have been looking for a new one that both of us like since we moved here last summer. But everybody at this one was super friendly and we both liked the sermon a lot, so I think we'll probably be heading back there sometime. Their welcome packet even came with a bag of popcorn that said "We hope you POP in again soon!" And you know I'm a sucker for terrible puns.
After church we were pretty busy... we got donuts at the Donut Hut (they're good!), went home and cleaned up for a bit, had lunch with a friend, watched B's niece for a little while, made hamburger stroganoff for dinner, and then had another friend over for a night full of Disney movies... we watched 3 movies in a row! We also made monster cookies, which are delicious as always.
Monday was the MLK day of service, so B and I spent our morning at the Refuge, cleaning (which basically means removing the caps) and planting bur oak acorns. Our group of 10 or so volunteers planted 810 acorns! We planted so many because we're not really sure how many will grow. And I know what you're thinking... why were we planting trees at a prairie Refuge? Bur oak savannas are actually a very important part of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. You can read more about it here (This is a Wikipedia page, so you won't be able to read it until tomorrow because of their SOPA protest). It was a lot of fun! I love being out at the Refuge... it's good for the soul to work outside and do something positive to help restore the land.
Monday night Community Band rehearsals started up again. We had a little break after our winter concerts... which is fine because everybody was running around getting ready for the holidays, and nobody would have been practicing anyway. The break from rehearsals was nice, but I'm glad they've started up again. Most of the people in band are kind of old, but they're all really friendly and nice to talk to, so that makes me happy. And having a creative outlet like music is good for everyone involved.
And finally, Tuesday... last night a few brass players from Community Band played at the Salisbury house for a "knighting" ceremony of a 15-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy. The boy really likes King Arthur and knights and things of that nature, so his family and friends wanted to put together a night to celebrate him in a fun and unique way. B's brother's coworker had been looking for somebody to play a couple of fanfares during the ceremony. And B is pretty much the most amazing person ever (as you all know), so she bit the bullet and sent out emails to the Community Band and organized all of the people to play... and luckily, one of them likes to arrange music, and another one owns a piccolo trumpet... so we had a couple of great fanfares and a solid sounding brass quintet (3 trumpets, a piccolo trumpet, and a trombone). I think that everyone involved with the event really appreciated it, so that was good.
Wow! I think that this is long enough. Just a quick update of what we've been doing lately! Hopefully I'll write in this thing more often! Let me know that you're reading, maybe that will give me more motivation to post in the future :)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Beginning
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that "this is what I'm doing" blogs are kind of pointless unless you are either traveling to wonderful places that your friends haven't seen or are still in high school and obsessed with talking about yourself. I am not currently either of those things... So, if you think this blog is pointless, that's fine. You don't have to read it.
However, these days I find myself living in a strange city, hundreds of miles from most of my friends and all of my family members. This in itself is not a dilemma, but I am also notoriously horrible at returning phone calls, texts, facebook messages, emails, smoke signals, and all other current forms of long-distance communication. SO horrible, in fact, that my mom recently had to ask my girlfriend for her cell phone number in case of emergencies, because she knows that if she leaves me a message I probably won't even listen to it for several days.
Friends and family members are starting to wonder, "What is Mary doing?"
If you are one of those people, then this blog is for you.
Here's a quick list of things I am doing (I'll get into more detail later, I promise!):
1. Getting used to living with my girlfriend (and my cat)
2. Working as an intern at a national wildlife refuge and wishing I could stay there forever
3. Playing trumpet in a community band
4. Fixing up a 50s/60s cruiser bicycle
5. Trying to get myself on as many subbing lists as possible
6. Occasionally camping or going on other adventures
7. Cuddling with my cat
That's all for now! Love to all.
However, these days I find myself living in a strange city, hundreds of miles from most of my friends and all of my family members. This in itself is not a dilemma, but I am also notoriously horrible at returning phone calls, texts, facebook messages, emails, smoke signals, and all other current forms of long-distance communication. SO horrible, in fact, that my mom recently had to ask my girlfriend for her cell phone number in case of emergencies, because she knows that if she leaves me a message I probably won't even listen to it for several days.
Friends and family members are starting to wonder, "What is Mary doing?"
If you are one of those people, then this blog is for you.
Here's a quick list of things I am doing (I'll get into more detail later, I promise!):
1. Getting used to living with my girlfriend (and my cat)
2. Working as an intern at a national wildlife refuge and wishing I could stay there forever
3. Playing trumpet in a community band
4. Fixing up a 50s/60s cruiser bicycle
5. Trying to get myself on as many subbing lists as possible
6. Occasionally camping or going on other adventures
7. Cuddling with my cat
That's all for now! Love to all.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)