Score!
So, my renewed substitute-teaching credential just came in the mail today... 2 weeks or so earlier than expected, which is nice. :o)
For those of you who don't know or have been asking (hi Lenore :o) ), I left Minnesota about a week ago and am back in California for a few reasons...
(1) I love California beyond words
(2) Had planned on moving in with my friend, Chris (and was all set and ready to but... that's been on hold, at least for now... my folks offered to provide me shelter on an interim basis... it's sort of a weird arrangement that involves me being thankful on one hand for the temporarily free livin' whilst I make this career/life change, but resentful of my father and his desire to control everything I do. He does it with me and he does it with Mari... which was part of the reason she eloped and basically ran away to Minnesota in the first place)
(3) I'm looking for temporary employment in education (1 year job more-or-less), while simultaneously...
(4) applying for full teaching credential programs here
(5) as an alternative possibility, I'm applying to the Peace Corps
Have finished the Peace Corps application, although I'm at odds with my father (who, of course, has made himself my advisor in all of this) about when to submit it. Personally, I think I could use a little bit more to pad the app with, including one of those month-long TEFL courses. I've had my eye on one in San Francisco that sounds excellent, but, of course, that would involve doing some sort of commute up the peninsula on the train and I wonder whether this would work with whatever other employment I can find. There are 3 Peace Corps positions that are suited to my "talents" (whatever those might be!), however TEFL seems to be the most promising and likely to lead to the best country assignments (and the countries, ultimately, are assigned although one may specify a preference.
In terms of employment, the best opportunities for a man between professions such as myself seems to be an Educational Aide position, possibly at the high school level. At present I'm looking for these and long-term sub jobs in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, and Sonoma counties. One particular position I found on Edjoin sounds like exactly what I'd be looking for in terms of duration, location, experience, and salary -- in the Mountain View/Los Altos district working one-on-one or possibly generally with special education students at the high school.
For Sil:
[[seems everyone is asking Sil for advice nowadays... lol... I was wondering, my dear, if you have/had any insight into this type of employment on any level, I'd appreciate it! I have yet to go look at whatever it is that Bilks wrote several weeks ago, so maybe I'll do that first and ask you specific questions later on. Also... hope things are going okay. *hugs*]].
Continuing...
I was able to get a little experience informally working with a SpecEd high school student when I was in Minnesota (Jill, the daughter of Sai's daycare provider just graduated from high school... great kid... oye, must call her mom, Carol, though, as she broke her leg in a fall several weeks ago after having knee surgery and just beginning rehab on the *same leg!!! Thank God she had just gotten her insurance.... Anyhoo... ****Note To Self: Call Carol***). Where was I? Oh yes... and I have my experience as a substitute teacher too, which should make me at least a little more desirable than the average joe from a classroom management standpoint. Would also endeavor to get a secondary job in the evening, possibly. It's not like I'm going to be rockin' the Casbah anytime soon, much less be dating anybody. (although... I did run into Lizzie who now likes to be called Robyn in downtown Los Altos when I came to visit about a month ago... but that's another story altogether :o])
The goal remains: High School History teacher. I hope that answer's Moth's question from her e-mail. Law and law school and legal education and everything else that start's with an "L"... rear-view mirror.
Unfortunately, returning here means I've also had to leave two, going on 3, very very special people behind in Minnesota... my sister, baby on board, and especially, my nephew, Sayid. He hasn't cried or been sad-seeming since 4 days before I left, but I have and I miss him terribly.
This morning I woke up from a dream in which there were a number of baby ducks that had gotten into the house here and I had to shoo them out. Sai was with me, watching. Anyway, once I managed to get the ducks out, I realized that their mother duck was, in fact, on the other side of the house looking for them, so in my dream logic, I figured that I had to go outside, find the baby ducks, bring them through the house again and over to the other side. So, I told Sai to stay put while I chased after the ducks and that I'd be right back. He didn't though... he started running after me and for some reason I turned and screamed bloody murder at him not to move and he started to wail uncontrollably and I turned and found that I had accidentally stepped on and killed one of the baby ducks and the dream ended.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Dr. Freud! Sometimes I worry that I was too hard on Sayid while I was living there. Don't get me wrong... we got along fine... it's just that, there were times where he'd act out and I'd come off feeling like my own father in the way that I dealt with him giving him a timeout or some consequence. He even told me once that sometimes if it was me who was giving him some sort of consequence, he'd be scared of me in a way that he wouldn't be with his mom. I asked him, "why?" and he said, "because you're big, Uncle Greg."
I remember telling my dad that Mari and Mom and I were afraid of him back in the 4th or 5th grade and that he was kind of outraged by the idea and, ironically, got very mad and hostile towards me for saying it. It was so true, though.
I still feel like 5th grade Greg a lot of the time, but I'm hoping that things from August 18, 2005 forward will turn out okay... not just the living situation, but everything. They kind of have to.
Anyway, I'm feeling more positive than negative right now and that's good, so I think I'll stop writing before I send myself driving through the Doldrums. Hope everyone is doing okay.
For those of you who don't know or have been asking (hi Lenore :o) ), I left Minnesota about a week ago and am back in California for a few reasons...
(1) I love California beyond words
(2) Had planned on moving in with my friend, Chris (and was all set and ready to but... that's been on hold, at least for now... my folks offered to provide me shelter on an interim basis... it's sort of a weird arrangement that involves me being thankful on one hand for the temporarily free livin' whilst I make this career/life change, but resentful of my father and his desire to control everything I do. He does it with me and he does it with Mari... which was part of the reason she eloped and basically ran away to Minnesota in the first place)
(3) I'm looking for temporary employment in education (1 year job more-or-less), while simultaneously...
(4) applying for full teaching credential programs here
(5) as an alternative possibility, I'm applying to the Peace Corps
Have finished the Peace Corps application, although I'm at odds with my father (who, of course, has made himself my advisor in all of this) about when to submit it. Personally, I think I could use a little bit more to pad the app with, including one of those month-long TEFL courses. I've had my eye on one in San Francisco that sounds excellent, but, of course, that would involve doing some sort of commute up the peninsula on the train and I wonder whether this would work with whatever other employment I can find. There are 3 Peace Corps positions that are suited to my "talents" (whatever those might be!), however TEFL seems to be the most promising and likely to lead to the best country assignments (and the countries, ultimately, are assigned although one may specify a preference.
In terms of employment, the best opportunities for a man between professions such as myself seems to be an Educational Aide position, possibly at the high school level. At present I'm looking for these and long-term sub jobs in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, and Sonoma counties. One particular position I found on Edjoin sounds like exactly what I'd be looking for in terms of duration, location, experience, and salary -- in the Mountain View/Los Altos district working one-on-one or possibly generally with special education students at the high school.
For Sil:
[[seems everyone is asking Sil for advice nowadays... lol... I was wondering, my dear, if you have/had any insight into this type of employment on any level, I'd appreciate it! I have yet to go look at whatever it is that Bilks wrote several weeks ago, so maybe I'll do that first and ask you specific questions later on. Also... hope things are going okay. *hugs*]].
Continuing...
I was able to get a little experience informally working with a SpecEd high school student when I was in Minnesota (Jill, the daughter of Sai's daycare provider just graduated from high school... great kid... oye, must call her mom, Carol, though, as she broke her leg in a fall several weeks ago after having knee surgery and just beginning rehab on the *same leg!!! Thank God she had just gotten her insurance.... Anyhoo... ****Note To Self: Call Carol***). Where was I? Oh yes... and I have my experience as a substitute teacher too, which should make me at least a little more desirable than the average joe from a classroom management standpoint. Would also endeavor to get a secondary job in the evening, possibly. It's not like I'm going to be rockin' the Casbah anytime soon, much less be dating anybody. (although... I did run into Lizzie who now likes to be called Robyn in downtown Los Altos when I came to visit about a month ago... but that's another story altogether :o])
The goal remains: High School History teacher. I hope that answer's Moth's question from her e-mail. Law and law school and legal education and everything else that start's with an "L"... rear-view mirror.
Unfortunately, returning here means I've also had to leave two, going on 3, very very special people behind in Minnesota... my sister, baby on board, and especially, my nephew, Sayid. He hasn't cried or been sad-seeming since 4 days before I left, but I have and I miss him terribly.
This morning I woke up from a dream in which there were a number of baby ducks that had gotten into the house here and I had to shoo them out. Sai was with me, watching. Anyway, once I managed to get the ducks out, I realized that their mother duck was, in fact, on the other side of the house looking for them, so in my dream logic, I figured that I had to go outside, find the baby ducks, bring them through the house again and over to the other side. So, I told Sai to stay put while I chased after the ducks and that I'd be right back. He didn't though... he started running after me and for some reason I turned and screamed bloody murder at him not to move and he started to wail uncontrollably and I turned and found that I had accidentally stepped on and killed one of the baby ducks and the dream ended.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Dr. Freud! Sometimes I worry that I was too hard on Sayid while I was living there. Don't get me wrong... we got along fine... it's just that, there were times where he'd act out and I'd come off feeling like my own father in the way that I dealt with him giving him a timeout or some consequence. He even told me once that sometimes if it was me who was giving him some sort of consequence, he'd be scared of me in a way that he wouldn't be with his mom. I asked him, "why?" and he said, "because you're big, Uncle Greg."
I remember telling my dad that Mari and Mom and I were afraid of him back in the 4th or 5th grade and that he was kind of outraged by the idea and, ironically, got very mad and hostile towards me for saying it. It was so true, though.
I still feel like 5th grade Greg a lot of the time, but I'm hoping that things from August 18, 2005 forward will turn out okay... not just the living situation, but everything. They kind of have to.
Anyway, I'm feeling more positive than negative right now and that's good, so I think I'll stop writing before I send myself driving through the Doldrums. Hope everyone is doing okay.