Somewhere in Illinois

Jesus H. Christ, I am never moving again. I mean it. If I need to spend the rest of my life in a small broom closet somewhere, I do not care. Never again am I packing up (not even all of) my worldly possessions and hauling them halfway across the country. Pamela, how did you do it??

Allow me to clarify:

Packing obviously sucked. I have already waxed poetic on that subject, so let's just say that I stayed up till midnight, have entirely too much stuff, and still managed to forget things (damn phone cord!).

Time in the car today: 13 hours. Thirteen. And at least six more to go tomorrow.

And for those of you wondering why my personality is the way it is, my parents and I spent the majority of those 13 hours in silence. Not because we were in bad moods, though this admittedly changed throughout the course of the trip. We just don't talk. Yay, family togetherness time. And right now, Dad's watching CNN, Mom's reading, and I'm on the computer...god, are we dysfunctional.

Midwest drivers (no offense, midwesterners) are craaaaaaaazy. We were doing 80 but being cut off and passed like we were grannies in a Cadillac. Not to mention the two hours we spent in stop-and-go (but mostly stop) traffic outside of Chicago. During rush hour. Under construction.

Good God, do we really have to do this again tomorrow? At least I don't have to make the two-day trip back, I suppose. Because I am staying in Minnesota FOREVER.

sidenote: Sorry about the bitchiness. But I really needed to gripe to someone, and the Internet community was the most easily accessible. Thank goodness for WiFi at the hotel.

Meet Willis, the telephone**

It's times like these when I realize exactly how much I despise moving. I've done it every year for the past six years, so you'd think it would get easier by Year #7... sadly, this is not the case. I hate looking at every single item I own, thinking, 'Will I need this at any point this year or sometime in the future?' and then placing it in the appropriate box/storage tote/area of floor. Making it even better is the fact that I don't know how long I'll be in MN...it could be a year, it could be a while longer. At least at college, you know what people's expectations are; I feel like I'm making this up as I go along.

Grr. Packing sucks.

On the plus side, Amvets is getting tons of stuff from me! Hope those bags of clothes come in handy, guys!

On another plus side, I've got a new toy! The new printer/copier/scanner* I got yesterday is now my new best friend. (And named Punky Brewster, according to Moose. His new kick is naming appliances after 80s sitcom characters. I guess so they get along better with Fred the cello and Woodrow the violin.) Yay for technology and ways to keep me amused. Now I can finally print out some of those pictures I've been taking for the past two years.

Enough procrastination for now. Hopefully I'll update before I leave, unless I throw myself despairingly into a suitcase first.

*sounds like I'm trying to be a technology snob, but the thing is really not that top-of-the-line. Nonetheless, it's quite cool.

**Edit: Apparently I misunderstood Moose the other day on the phone: see his comment for details. Of course, this means my violin is now nameless; I thought I had dibs on 'Woodrow' (everyone needs a favorite president) but I guess not. So, new contest: Name Bridget's Violin! Winner will be duly rewarded with cookies.

Quiz!

Good sign for my future students, eh?


Lupin - Defense Against the Dark Arts

Harry Potter: Which Hogwarts professor would you be?
brought to you by Quizilla

Red tape

All right, so now the euphoria of New Job-ness has worn off and I'm just now starting to realize that I have scads of work to do before leaving... on Monday! Just got an application for temporary licensure from the school, which might not have been too bad except for the fact that it requires a copy of my Praxis scores, which are in existence somewhere, just no place where I can easily find them. And I need to get fingerprinted and pay for that. Again. And I need to get in contact with Witt and see if they can fill out a section of this for me, since it needs to be certified and clearly the teacher certification requirements in Ohio are nowhere near as intensive as those in the great state of Minnesota and thus need to be checked over.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I also have to pay over $80 in fees? I'm tempted to tell them, you want me at the school that badly, you help me out with these fees. There has got to be grant money somewhere. I'd also settle for petty cash.

It's a good thing I didn't go with everyone to drop Moose off at school yesterday; gives me about 3 days at home with no one around (i.e., no distractions). However, no people around also means that no one's here to nag me to get stuff done. Quite the dilemma. Hence me sitting here at the moment posting to this blog.

How is everyone today?

Guess who's now employed!!

I have a job!! Let's all do the happy dance! *happy dance ensues* Amazing, eh? I come back from Germany jobless and directionless, and 5 weeks later, I've signed a contract. It may or may not be what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I guess I won't know until I try it.

So clearly, the weekend in MN was successful. I'm not going to give you the entire rundown here, because it involved a lot of touring around and schmoozing and got rather repetitive. Of note:

• Met with school staff (all 4 of them), and they're all so excited to get this school up and running. One is an ex-Fulbrighter, and we compared stories of the East. Also went out with him and two friends on Saturday and had a great time. Too bad all the 'Anchorman' references were lost on me; I have got to see that movie.
• Met with a few parents at Open House, and the guy that donated the frequent flyer miles took me out to dinner with his family. I guess I made a decent impression on them, because the school hired me despite the interview...
• Had the interview from hell. I was so nervous and apparently had prepared for the wrong questions. Plus, I freeze up in a group of adults larger than 2. Long, awkward pauses and sounds like "uh" abounded. But...
• Demo lesson went pretty well. One of the kids was determined not to cooperate, so I just started in with the other one (yes, there were only two). And since I had brought materials of my own to show them, this was obviously fascinating and Kid #1 found himself sucked in. Ha, my evil scheme worked!

So it was actually a nice weekend (job offer being a bonus!), though I must say that I don't want to have to try to impress so many people anytime soon. (whoa, too many infinitives there. does that make sense?) It's really exhausting. Some people are cut out for this whole meeting-and-greeting thing, but I'd much rather just say hi as needed and then hang out along the side and watch everyone. Or maybe if there were a limit on the number of people I could possibly meet in a day. ('Sorry, sir, but I've already met five other people. I'll put you on my list for tomorrow, though, okay?')

Anyway, though, I don't want to overshadow the fact that I have a job!! That pays! More than below the poverty line! Who's coming out to visit me?

Who's in the what now?

(Shameless plug: Today's subject brought to you by Solas. Excellent music.)

I'm flying to MN tomorrow...let's make a checklist, shall we?

1) Packing: not even started.
2) Lesson: planned, but not written down and materials not gathered. Basically what I'm doing is having the kids draw themselves and a few things they like to do, and that's it. I couldn't come up with any other activities that we could do in 15 minutes and that don't involve any sort of background knowledge or follow-up activity. I mean, you've got to get to know the kids before you just do any sort of lesson with them, right? Does that make sense or does it sound like an excuse? Because right now, I feel it could go either way...
3) Research: semi-done. Do you know how hard it is to find basic info on a random city? And Internet sites comparing the costs of living in various cities aren't particularly helpful if you aren't earning a salary in the first place and thus have no point for comparison.
4) List of possible questions to ask: uh, brainstormed a bit but not really
5) Thoughts about questions they could ask me: none.

Obviously, I'm in good shape here. I'm rather nervous, but not as nervous as I feel I should be...which, of course, makes me even more nervous, only for the wrong reason. At this point, I'm just trying not to think about it too much, cross my fingers and just be myself. I mean, they liked my application so they'll like me, right?

Right?

Bet they don't teach you that strategy at the career center.

Today's gold star goes to...

...Heather! Good guess on the (Inter)National Chain Store of Hell; you got it on the first try! I'll think of an appropriate award and send it to you. (perhaps a...certificate? Ha ha ha...I crack myself up.)

And to Pamela: Is Hy-Vee pronounced like 'ivy' except with an H at the beginning? Because I don't see how else you could say it.

Not much else to report today, except: The long-lost GBS CD has been found!! I don't shriek much (if, in fact, ever) but I actually made a similar noise for joy when I found it in my desk the other day. Quite possibly my favorite CD, and back after a two-year hiatus. Maybe I should clean a bit more often.

Off now to research MN and plan a lesson.

Two plus two equals chair!

Today's subject line is brought to you by the letters B, M, and the number 2. That's right, Moose is back in town! The letters are self-explanatory; the 2 is for the number of wisdom teeth he had out today. Poor Moose. Hey, at least it's only half as many teeth as I had out...and just think: You don't have to go back to work at the National Chain Store Of Hell two days after having said teeth out. Nearly as painful as the oral surgery in the first place.

So the weekend passed in a blur of hours spent in the car and much cleaning of my room, namely the desk. I went on a nostalgia trip, going through various papers that I'd saved from college (typical inner dialogue: 'Oh, look at this, it's my independent study proposal! The course that I didn't really do anything for but still got an A in! Ah, good times...but why the hell do I still have this form?'). Also found: notes from every German class taken at Witt, papers from 215 (oh yeah, we wrote stuff for that class!), other essays, Protokoll notes from 410, a notebook from an education class, notes on my thesis presentation, and my Fulbright application, including every single draft. I forgot how hard I actually worked on that thing...and TAs are considered 'half-brights'! Oh, the irony.

Must go take in laundry or other equally menial task now.

Welcome back, Moose!

UB & GBS

Let me just start by saying UB's Internet sucks. I've been online for about an hour and a half and have been kicked off literally 15 times. Whoops, there it just went again. Seriously, how can you be such a huge school and have such lousy Internet connections? One more reason why we deride UB. (or at least spit in their general direction)

Anyway, on to brighter things. Adrienne and I went downtown to the GBS concert last night, and it was super! Highlights: 'River Driver' and any other a capella songs, singing along to classic 80s rock, Alan Doyle proposing to the statue on Lafayette Square, and watching (along with hundreds of other people) two people having sex in a window on the 9th floor of the Liberty Building. Honestly, they were right in the window. Just a thought, but you might want to close the curtains next time. The funniest part of the whole thing was that the two of them (in bathrobes) opened the window and leaned out a few minutes later, to see what was going on...to scattered applause. Come on, guys, there's a concert in the square every week; how do you not notice all these people staring up at you? On second thought, perhaps I don't want to think about that...

And the interview is set up: I'm flying out on the 18th and coming back the 21st. And they are putting me up at a hotel, and showing me the sights, and driving me around. God, I don't feel adult enough to merit all this. Bizarre.

Reasons why Canadian TV rocks

1. It’s not American – and so is not required to broadcast such events as the State of the Union address, Presidential declarations or any other time W feels the need to interrupt regular programming. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX and PBS are all broadcasting the same event at 9pm? ‘CSI:’ is still on CTV!
2. Canadian satire – no one does self-deprecation quite like the Canadians. But not only can they laugh at themselves, they are damn good at making fun of others, i.e., the US. ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen, especially the bit about Talking to Americans. They actually managed to convince Iowans that Canada is on a 20-hour clock (obviously, the hours have 65 minutes instead of 60). I guess ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ could be considered a forerunner to ‘The Daily Show’…which, incidentally, is also carried by CTV.
3. Lax censorship guidelines – where else can you get shows like ‘South Park’ and ‘The Sopranos’ on network TV? Uncensored? And watch out for those stand-up comedy specials…though on during primetime, those are not family programming.
4. Olympics coverage – we’re gonna have to wait until next year for this, but just wait until it comes around. Leave the inane commentary behind, Bob Costas, and watch how the Canadians do it. Less human interest stories, less commercial breaks, and more events. And what? Athletes from countries besides the US compete in the Olympics? And there are sports other than gymnastics, swimming, track and field (summer) and figure skating (winter)? I never would have guessed.
5. Canadian Sesame Street – nothing beats getting to learn two foreign languages growing up. I’d watch American Sesame Street on PBS and hear some Spanish for an hour, then change the channel to CBC and learn some French. As a kid, you don’t realize that the main character randomly slips into French; somehow, I didn’t care. Besides, what other kids’ show has an otter and a polar bear as the stars? Take that, ‘Blue’s Clues’! (Sidenote: I also loved ‘Mr. Dressup’, though none of you’ll know what I’m talking about. Trust me, he’s awesome. Moose, back me up here.)

Speaking of Canada and Canadians, I’m going to the Great Big Sea concert tonight! Woo hoo!!

Let's go down ter da rub an' tug an' 'ave a Nelson!

Day Three of the Applying For Jobs Saga....
So the school to which I faxed my application yesterday called this morning, and get this: They not only want to hold an interview with me in person but are willing to fly me out there. (a la 'Bill and Ted': Whoa.) Clearly this school is more desperate than I'd thought. So...er...yeah, my first job interview, and they're flying me out there, and I have to prepare a demo lesson for a group of kindergarteners/first-graders. In German. Why do I feel like I should be prepared for this but am overwhelmed? Who wants to help me come up with a decent lesson in German? Why did I think I was actually capable of doing this job? Comments as to any of those questions would be greatly appreciated.

In other news: check this out. Reminds me of going to the pub in London with Heather and Anna, and scaffolders. (To clarify: We did not go to the pub with scaffolders. We met them at the pub.) Quite possibly the most entertaining time I've had at a pub/bar...well, ever!

I'd also like to mention that DB is my hero. He wrote me the best email yesterday. When I grow up, I want to be exactly like him...with a bit of Remus Lupin thrown in, I think. Anyone know jobs needing people of that description?

Can I get a refund on adulthood? You can have it back

In job-search-related news today: a school called me this morning, asking what was going on with my application. I told them my transcript still hasn't come in (damn you, registrar!) but everything else was done. Which was kind of a lie, but I finished the rest of the application this morning after she called, so it's not a lie anymore. Now I need to run out to OfficeMax or someplace to fax in everything (but the transcript) before the school has a board meeting at 6. And she wants to set up a conference call next week so I can do a phone interview with a lot of people at once, it seems. Er...okay? Don't really have a choice, do I? Interviews scare the crap out of me, and I never pull them off well, particularly over the phone. But if this school is in such desperate need of people as it appears, maybe it won't matter.

Other than that, some family issues going on today. Not really necessary for the blogging world, I feel. If you really want to know, ask; if it affects you, you know about it already. Wow, doesn't that sound all cloak-and-dagger.

Post #1

Welcome. Obviously, I've succumbed to peer pressure and have decided to join the technological world with a blog of my own. Never mind that I usually don't have much to say... well, at least it'll keep me from being bored to tears. (this way, I can bore the rest of the online world to tears! ha!) You would think that I'd have a blog sometime during the past two years, when I lived in Germany and did more interesting things, but no: living at home again and job-searching are clearly far more interesting than traveling to foreign countries on the weekends. Well, we can't all lead fascinating lives.

Enjoy.