Yesterday: A Day of Spontaneity and Memories
I discovered this afternoon that there is a wireless network called Andrea that can only be accessed from my backyard, not anywhere inside the house or the front yard. Andrea, what are you doing in my backyard? Well thank you Andrea for allowing me to have (relatively) speedy internet access while outdoors and enjoying the beautiful weather. I am ever grateful. ; )
It amuses me when the little window pops up on my laptop that says "You are now connected to Andrea". I'm picturing Andrea and me standing next to each other with a rope tying our legs together. Or maybe I can get internet access by plugging my computer into Andrea's belly button.
Well anyway, yesterday was a rather lovely and non-boring day (which is good considering this break has been rather, well, boring). Today was also rather lovely and non-boring, but I only have the energy to write about (and you guys probably only have the time and patience to read about) one day, so I will write about yesterday because yesterday was more interesting.
All schools in Warwick, RI were canceled today and yesterday because of serious cases of meningitis. They're calling it an epidemic. And of course, this has to happen during my FWT. Thankfully they're distributing free vaccinations on Saturday (which in my opinion should have been required before these kids started school, or at least they should have distributed them earlier when they first saw signs, but whatever). So school will hopefully be in session again on Monday now that all healthy people will be vaccinated and sick people are at home recovering, and I already got my meningitis shot for Drew and a booster for Bennington. I was concerned about my FWT hours because I calculated that without missing any days I would have exactly the 210 hours required, but I talked to Tammy and she said that the hours I'm missing could be excused because of the circumstances. = ) Guys, I don't mean to be a mother or anything, but if you haven't already, go get a meningitis vaccination! The so-called epidemic is apparently spreading.
So yeah, yesterday I unexpectedly had the day off from work. It was kinda weird, driving to work and seeing no cars in the parking lot and the lights out, trying to open the doors and finding them locked. I drove home and when I heard on the radio what was going on I decided to take a nap (I mean, who wouldn't when you're up at 8am and then find out you don't have to be?), and then I went to ACT. (For those who don't know, whenever I say ACT I am referring to All Children's Theater, the nonprofit children's theater where my mom and I currently work and where I was practically raised). ACT is where I go whenever I don't have anything else to do, for ACT is my home while in RI. My mom was surprised but happy to see me, and she embarrassed me a bit by slapping me on the butt after hugging me. Oh, mom. As embarrassing as she may be, I still love her, especially since she gives me such amusing stories to tell my friends. ; ) Anthony and Mary were there too, the new office assistant-type peoples. Anthony and Mary are uber cool, AND in their early twenties like me, yee new friends! Anthony is very stereotypical gay guy, and really funny and fun. And Mary is shy and really sweet and somewhat socially awkward. So of course, Mary and I really hit it off when I met her for the first time last week.
I spent some time lounging around and doing some random crap (like filing and putting lables on stuff). Anthony mentioned that he had some tickets to a sneak preview of Freedom Writers and asked if Mary, my mom and I wanted to come. Apparantly the school psychologist at a high school in a bad neighborhood in South Providence was taking students on a field trip of sorts, and Anthony is friends with her so she got him some tickets. (Freedom Writers, for those who haven't seen the preview, is based on a true story of a teacher in an inner-city high school who really made a difference in the lives of her students). Of course I said yes. My break so far has been somewhat lacking in events, and it would be an opportunity to hang out with Mary and Anthony and get to know them better. And not to mention, a school field trip with students at an inner-city school and a school psychologist to see a movie about a teacher? So totally up my alley.
I brought up my concern with driving all the way back home to Cranston only to practically turn right around to get to the movie theater in Providence Place Mall (pretty close to the ACT office). I jokingly asked if I could stay at ACT after it closed and check my email on their computers or take a nap on the couch. Mary offered to take me to her apartment in Providence to hang out for a little while and have some dinner. Rock on! So I did, and my mom ran errands and Anthony did...something. I met Mary's adorable poofy kitties and her twin Margaret and boyfriend Mark, who both live with her (talk about confusingly similar first names). We ate pizza while watching a really corny soap opera. I never was a fan of soaps, but I've realized that it's really fun to watch them with people who are really into them. The whole time Mary and Margaret and Mark were all like "Oh, I think he's having an affair with another man. She's definitely her long lost twin sister's friend's cousin once removed. Oh no, I can't believe he died! That bitch, how dare she say something like that!". I didn't really understand what was going on in the show because I couldn't hear half of it over their talking and it was mid-season, but the three of them were so hilarious I really didn't care. Then when Mary drove me to the mall we had a rather amasing conversation in which we bonded and both shared things that we normally wouldn't share with someone we've only known a week. Turns out we have more in common than I thought. = )
Now, the movie. It was amasing. I highly recommend it. The only problem I had with it is that it really focuses on the teacher rather than the students, and kind of makes her seem like an angel or something for teaching supposedly "unteachable" kids. I really don't think the real person would like that approach because her opinion was that she only provided the opportunity for the kids to do what they had in them to do all along without her, and that would also be my opinion on the matter. But I digress. I really really felt like I could relate to the teacher in the movie. First off, she's a lot like me in her mannerisms and personality. She's basically the nerdy teacherly side of me exaggurated without the other sides of me. And her mannerisms...clasping her hands and bouncing a little when she got excited, clapping, nervous giggling, walking with a little bounce in her step, smiling lots, saying silly words and phrases such as "oopsy" or "my badness", getting all excited about her lesson plans and talking about them to most everyone she knew, attempting to be cool to relate to her students but failing miserably because she couln't possibly have been more nerdy. And then the personality traits...kind, nerdy, idealistic, sweet, naive, often silly, uber obssessed with teaching and children. I could also relate to her a lot in the experiences she had to go through. Dealing with annoyingly beurocratic public school systems and with people who strongly disagree with her methods; people giving her a hard time about her chosen profession, bringing up the crappy pay and saying things like "You're so smart and you're wasting your talents doing this. These kids are a lost cause anyway. Do you seriously think you can make a difference as a teacher?". I don't know if I'll ever be working at an inner-city school, but I definitely want to go into special education. That's the same sort of thing; people call the kids "unteachable" and "a lost cause" and say you shouldn't waste your time with them.
I'm sure the high schoolers in the audience could relate to the high schoolers in the movie as much as I could relate to the teacher. I could tell they could because they got really, really into it. They were cheering the kids in the movie on, shouting things at the screen, throwing things at the screen when the high schoolers in the movie were annoyed with something, etc. It was very Rocky Horror-esque. Except that on the screen there was...me. Which was rather awkward at times because there were parts of the movie where the students weren't exactly the most receptive to the teacher. And to watch those parts knowing that in real life you would be handling those situations exactly the way the movie teacher would, even coming up with scarily similar ideas for lesson plans (watching the movie I was able to predict a lot of her lessons before she actually taught them), and to be surrounded by these high schoolers who were shouting at the screen and throwing things at it. Let's just say it was a very powerful learning experience. I realized I have a lot of hard work and rough days ahead of me. It doesn't make me want to be a teacher even less, though. = ) The good thing is as you probably have already guessed the students in the movie did eventually warm up to the teacher. And so did the students in the audience.
So that was my day. I'm less bothered now by changes in my social life now than I used to be, and that is very good. At times I have plenty of friends but I'm not very close to any of them, at times I have very few friends but I'm very close to them, at times I have no friends at all. My friends change often, especially at home. Astrid has pretty much always been in my life, but last summer there was also Alanna and Kerry and Chadd, and now those three people are no longer in my life but now there is Mary and Anthony and Margaret and Mark. The friends change sure, but when people leave my life it gives me a reason to talk to and become friends with people I might not have ever talked to. And I know that even if there is a friendless lull of time those times usually don't last very long, and most of the time there is somebody I can talk to and vent with and bond with and share memories with. Whether it is 10 people or only 2, whether they are a group of acquaintances or soulmates, whether they are my age or significantly older or younger, whether or not they are the same people I hung out with this time last year I don't really care. Just so long as there is somebody, and if there isn't I just have to have faith that it is only a stage of my life and no stages in life last forever. Besides, there is always my mom. <3