1.a. Dear GOD, that kind of system would kill me. Would kill any teacher, I think. And as you point out, look how much that screws over the teachers who have to take on summer jobs. I hate how people always pull out that stupid 'teachers get summers off so stop complaining'. Yeah. We also don't get paid during that time. A crappy plan by any other name, I suppose.
1.b. Let's hope. I've chatted with a few of them and they seem to get it. It better carry over to the actual writing of the exam, or I'm going to have to climb that stupid mountain of paperwork again. Such a process might threaten my scheduled return to the coast (bus tickets are non-refundable). If I miss that, I will raise all kinds of hell.
3. Seriously? A tall person's scholarship? Forgive me as I go lose my shit at that. There are tons of bizarre scholarships out there. The trick is finding ones I fit. Short person? Epileptic? Brunette? Who the hell knows.
4. Dooooo eeeeeet. What's always frustrated me is that we up here in Canada don't have anything like Hulu (it won't function here in the great white North). I've never checked to see if amazon.ca offers anything like that, and I know we don't have Comcast up here. I just download torrents because I am a terrible person.
5. Trust me, I would not laugh at you for such an adventure. In fact, I find myself rather jealous of it. Sadly, I only got in to "Firefly" after the movie had been released and left theatres, and thus missed out on an experience as awesome as that. But ah, what we geeks will do for that which we love. :) I'm most certainly crossing my fingers that it will be as awesome as I hope. I went to see the Backstreet Boys back during a previous tour once upon many years ago, and loved it. I just hope they don't disappoint. A couple of their promotional performances that I've seen do give me hope though. At the very least, yes. The trip itself, and catching up with this friend, will be amazing. No question.
Dear heavens, but my spelling was atrocious in my last comment. I apologize!
1.a. Even when you tell people that there's no pay for two months, they still don't think about what that means for those who don't save well over the other ten months. Quoted from a parent at our school: "I'd like to take Friday off, but the kids will be home because of summer." Gee, sweetheart, nice way to raise your own kids. Even nicer to make it clear that you think someone else should take care of them all day. Classy! And then those are the folks who bitch the loudest about teachers getting summers at all. Without summers, I would probably kill a kid or two each year. That decompression time is REQUIRED!
I did, the first summer after I started teaching, change my pay from 21 checks to 26 checks, spread out over the whole year. It made things really tight for a few years, but it did mean I didn't have to get a summer job. It was one of the best financial decisions I ever made!
1.b. Paperwork that has nothing to do with planning or grading is the DEVIL. Just sayin'.
3. Seek out the Tattoed Educator stipend? (Have you gotten your personally designed ink done yet?)
4. Half of the season is available on Comcast On Demand. Maybe I'll check out the show's wiki first, so that I'm not completely lost by starting midway through.
5. Adventures for the stuff we love are beyond cool. Which reminds me, I need to squeeze the budget enough to maybe start flying lessons. The one day deal that my husband gave me was EXCEEDINGLY cool.
1.a. Decompression is good. For students and for teachers! We need decompression and a chance to breathe, and live our own lives in a small way. Students need to be outside the confines of a classroom for a while too. Anyone who tries to tell me otherwise gets a mental throttle.
I'm tempted to do that for next year, if my school will let me. Difficult to say what an independent school can/cannot, or will/will not do. I have to chat with our finance person this week. Maybe something to inquire about.
1.b. Just sayin' the truth, you mean.
3. If that exists... I'm currently tattooed (got my first small piece done and good Lord do I want more), but haven't gotten my custom ink done. Long story involving the artist's work and personal life -- we've been e-mailing back and forth -- but he assures me that he will do it. And assures me that I'm not being annoying with my inquiries.
4. Nooooooo! It's not the same if you don't start from the beginning! I kid, I kid. Enjoy it any way you can, and report back! I'm interested to see if I can recruit a new fannibal.
5 Good luck! I remember you gushing about it when you had that first day. Hope it works out. Something crazy and fun like that is exactly the sort of thing adventures for stuff we love are made of.
1.a. Another alternative is to open a second bank account, and transfer ~15% of each paycheck into it as it's deposited. If you have direct deposit, this is very easy to arrange; even if you don't, you could set up an automatic transfer twice a month on payday. I found that if I didn't see it coming in, I didn't miss it... too much!
5. Thanks! It's a combination time and money issue, since just about all discretionary cash is now going to either retirement or the farmland.
A crappy plan by any other name, I suppose.
1.b. Let's hope. I've chatted with a few of them and they seem to get it. It better carry over to the actual writing of the exam, or I'm going to have to climb that stupid mountain of paperwork again. Such a process might threaten my scheduled return to the coast (bus tickets are non-refundable). If I miss that, I will raise all kinds of hell.
3. Seriously? A tall person's scholarship? Forgive me as I go lose my shit at that.
There are tons of bizarre scholarships out there. The trick is finding ones I fit. Short person? Epileptic? Brunette? Who the hell knows.
4. Dooooo eeeeeet. What's always frustrated me is that we up here in Canada don't have anything like Hulu (it won't function here in the great white North). I've never checked to see if amazon.ca offers anything like that, and I know we don't have Comcast up here.
I just download torrents because I am a terrible person.
5. Trust me, I would not laugh at you for such an adventure. In fact, I find myself rather jealous of it. Sadly, I only got in to "Firefly" after the movie had been released and left theatres, and thus missed out on an experience as awesome as that. But ah, what we geeks will do for that which we love. :)
I'm most certainly crossing my fingers that it will be as awesome as I hope. I went to see the Backstreet Boys back during a previous tour once upon many years ago, and loved it. I just hope they don't disappoint. A couple of their promotional performances that I've seen do give me hope though. At the very least, yes. The trip itself, and catching up with this friend, will be amazing. No question.
Reply
1.a. Even when you tell people that there's no pay for two months, they still don't think about what that means for those who don't save well over the other ten months. Quoted from a parent at our school: "I'd like to take Friday off, but the kids will be home because of summer." Gee, sweetheart, nice way to raise your own kids. Even nicer to make it clear that you think someone else should take care of them all day. Classy! And then those are the folks who bitch the loudest about teachers getting summers at all. Without summers, I would probably kill a kid or two each year. That decompression time is REQUIRED!
I did, the first summer after I started teaching, change my pay from 21 checks to 26 checks, spread out over the whole year. It made things really tight for a few years, but it did mean I didn't have to get a summer job. It was one of the best financial decisions I ever made!
1.b. Paperwork that has nothing to do with planning or grading is the DEVIL. Just sayin'.
3. Seek out the Tattoed Educator stipend? (Have you gotten your personally designed ink done yet?)
4. Half of the season is available on Comcast On Demand. Maybe I'll check out the show's wiki first, so that I'm not completely lost by starting midway through.
5. Adventures for the stuff we love are beyond cool. Which reminds me, I need to squeeze the budget enough to maybe start flying lessons. The one day deal that my husband gave me was EXCEEDINGLY cool.
Reply
1.a. Decompression is good. For students and for teachers! We need decompression and a chance to breathe, and live our own lives in a small way. Students need to be outside the confines of a classroom for a while too. Anyone who tries to tell me otherwise gets a mental throttle.
I'm tempted to do that for next year, if my school will let me. Difficult to say what an independent school can/cannot, or will/will not do. I have to chat with our finance person this week. Maybe something to inquire about.
1.b. Just sayin' the truth, you mean.
3. If that exists...
I'm currently tattooed (got my first small piece done and good Lord do I want more), but haven't gotten my custom ink done. Long story involving the artist's work and personal life -- we've been e-mailing back and forth -- but he assures me that he will do it. And assures me that I'm not being annoying with my inquiries.
4. Nooooooo! It's not the same if you don't start from the beginning!
I kid, I kid. Enjoy it any way you can, and report back! I'm interested to see if I can recruit a new fannibal.
5 Good luck! I remember you gushing about it when you had that first day. Hope it works out. Something crazy and fun like that is exactly the sort of thing adventures for stuff we love are made of.
Reply
5. Thanks! It's a combination time and money issue, since just about all discretionary cash is now going to either retirement or the farmland.
Reply
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