Fingers crossed

Had my interview today.

The school was interviewing several of the biology students for one or two slots (they still need to get their shit together and figure out classes, particularly since inservice starts next week and classes the week after). When I finally was brought in to the interview (I'm chronically early because I always used to be chronically late. No sense of time), what the interviewer was most interested in was my psychology degree. Apparently the lady is half administrator/half teacher and really wanted to teach an introductory psychology class. The principal wasn't so keen on the idea, knowing the extent of her administrative duties. The interviewer was thrilled when she noticed my degree and therefore wants to team-teach the course. Honestly, I had always planned on setting up a psychology class at the school where I wind up teaching, just because I enjoy the subject (students seem to as well), but the idea that my fluff major might get my a job is pretty hilarious.

I also got to pimp my step-mom during the interview. I used her as an example of how having control over your curriculum leads to a very satisfying job experience, only to find out that the school has a fully-equipped professional kitchen and has been looking for an advanced/ROP culinary arts teacher. Even though my step-mom loves her school, this one where I was interviewing is a great deal closer to her house, so perhaps they'll make her an offer they can't refuse. In any case, the interviewer was very excited at the prospect, so I gave her my step-mom's phone number. Couldn't hurt, right?

Too much homework!

Here, enjoy some lovely pictures from Montana.


Some lake.


We biked up to this waterfall.


A cloud that looked like a malevolent jellyfish.


"Grr. I shall float over you in a menacing manner."

I'm so happy, I just might explode

I've got an interview for an internship position on Tuesday. Not only am I thrilled to be getting an interview at all, this also happens to be at the school where I desperately want to teach.

For the first round of job placements, my program did not send my resume up to the school, and for the last several months I've been quite envious of the people from my program that got jobs up there. Just this morning, I received an e-mail (well, many of us did) from a school inquiring as to who would like to interview. The body of the e-mail did not contain the name of the school, just the initials. The first letter of the school's name happens to coincide with the first letter of another school's name, one where I would prefer not to teach. Reading the e-mail hastily in the morning, I glossed over the initials and thought that the less desirable school was the one that had sent the e-mail. It was only in the middle of class this morning that I had the nervous realization that I might have been confused as to what school had actually e-mailed. I'm so glad I did, as I nearly missed this opportunity!

All together now, singing

Happy birthday to me
I'm turning 23
I still have to go to class
But happy birthday to me

Actually, it really isn't that bad. I got brownies with a candle in them and everyone sang. I feel so loved!

To
continue the birthday celebrations, here is a birthday meme stolen from
Mrs. Chili.

The rules: Go to Wikipedia
and type in your birthday month and day only, then post 5 events, 5
births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday.

These things happened on July 26th:

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.

1878
- In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself
"Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box
from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a
taunting poem inside.

1941 - World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.

1971 - Apollo Program: Apollo 15 Mission - Launch of Apollo 15.

1991 - Paul "Peewee Herman" Reubens is arrested in a Sarasota, Florida theater for exposing himself.

These folks were born on the same day as I:

1856 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1950)

1875 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)

1894 - Aldous Huxley, English-born author (d. 1963)

1928 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (d. 1999)

1943 - Mick Jagger, English musician (The Rolling Stones)

My holiday:

Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack (1953); Day of the National Rebellion

Happy birthday! Now, forward and onward to Chevys! (Any excuse to go there, I swear).

I'm going to get so many more hits for "S&M teacher" now

Today in class we were doing a little exercise to see how schemas and prior knowledge effect interpretation. The teacher put this passage up on the overhead projector:

There are two men. One man is at home wearing a mask, the other is coming home. The other man is afraid of the man in the mask.

We were then asked to interpret what the passage was about. I started giggling and shared my impression.

"They're lovers. One of them is the gimp*. You know, a little S&M."

Totally broke up the class. Definitely made a name for myself with that instructor. Yup, there's the guy she teases for being a bad student, the guy who falls asleep, and that girl with weird sexual practices on her mind.

* Yes, I know. The guy wouldn't be scared of the gimp. Perhaps the guy in the mask is the master.