Dancing in the dark

Teaching

I haven’t blogged in two years.

I feel like I have a lot on my mind, and no one new to talk to. I just moved to Denver, so I have no friends, beyond coworkers and my lovely roommate.

The new school I am working at is great. Smart kids, motivated, but very privileged. That is something I am not used to. I was privileged going up, but not by these means. I always skated by in life. Worked from age 13-present and had a good work ethic. I still think I do. I have recently been challenging my teaching. Been trying to step it up a notch. I can’t help but be insecure about my job. When you’re a teacher, you are literally always being watched. The jury is out every second I work. How many other jobs are so closely monitored?

I am well liked at my school. Among students, at least. Growing up a Billman, we have always had such outgoing personalities and warm tones. We like to be liked. In this profession, seeing as I want to be liked and I am around such impressionable people, I wonder if I should put being so nice on the shelf. I think people confuse nice teacher = teacher we can walk over. I definitely put my foot down, but often wonder what is being said behind my back. What kind of teacher am I?

Coming from a school that had students constantly in trouble and often failing classes, I need to transition into challenging young minds who have the consistent effort I never experienced. It’s time I challenge myself.

/randomthoughts

Super Desserts..?

so I went home this weekend, home being columbus.

I saw my nephew and he is really cute. for our own good. He could get away with murder and we might let it slide. it was really fun seeing him along with my brother and sister in law. We never get to hang out or talk or anything and we actually found some time.

One of my favorite nights of the evening was when my lovely friend sam (who is wonderful, by the way) invited me to come to one of her local shows at a crafts store. Not only was her band really cute and awesome (the curiousities : www.myspace.com/thecuriositiesmusic) but the band immediately following them was just as wonderful. Their band name was the super desserts and included 2 cute girls and 4 cute guys. Their music was so smooth and fun to listen to. Their website is www.myspace.com/superdesserts (i think). I am not sure, but what was most fun about the show itself was that I went alone and had the time to really absorb the music and enjoy myself.

what i am trying to say, is that this weekend rocked.

but I am ready to chill in toledo for a couple weekends :]

Weeks go on forever, but the summer goes so fast..

This place feels more and more like a community of friendships. It is crazy to think that these people I am getting closest with are going to be heading separate directions in just over a MONTH.

Last night we all got really dressed up and went to the schmancy restaurant/bar/hotel in Yosemite and had the most delicious cheesecake I have had along with some fancy drinks. It felt good to dress up and have a good time with some folks for someone’s birthday.

It is really weird. I feel like I have been here for a month or so, but really I am rounding the 2 month area. Every week I work I feel like it is lasting forever and the events that felt like I did a week ago were the longest time ago. For example, there was a huge party that had half of our community there drinking and being obnoxtiously loud until midnight when the rangers finally found us. That was this past saturday. However, feels like it happened easily 3 weeks ago. Insane.

I need to hike some more, but I have been discouraged since it is so smoky here. Yes smoky. There are lots of fires in the surrounding area that are all controlled and the smoke is drifting into the valley so we cannot get any good views. Last on my list to really hike up to is Cloud’s Rest. That is one of the highest points in the valley.

Brother Pat is coming to visit in a week. We are going to get our hike on, hopefully. He has talked about wanting to hike Half-Dome. Should be interesting.

Ugh.. have to go to work.

Sunny summer weather

So the other night after work someone had this idea to hike up to the top of the falls and watch sunrise. Of course this was desirable to me, even though I had just got off work and had to work again in the afternoon. These things mean little to nothing to me. ANYWAY, we went on the hike and we started off and it was freaking hot at night, even though everyone told me it would be cold. I then stripped down to next to nothing during the hike, mind you it was 1 in the morning so no one was around. As soon as the falls came into our view, we were shivering. It got worse once we reached the top of the falls. It went from 60-70ish degrees to easily 40-50ish degrees with a lot of wind. Like a TON of wind. We were so cold, we forced ourselves to illegally build a fire at the top of the mountain. It was so worth it though. A couple hours later we had the pleasure to watch the sun rise at 5-630 from atop of Yosemite point. It was absolutely beautiful and everything I ever wanted to view from Yosemite. I will post a picture here regarding it.

It is getting really hot out here during the day. I am getting a lot of sun and I wish it was from playing ultimate! I am in deep miss of playing, but I am considering this sort of a resting period to rest up my muscles. We went rafting yesterday and had some fun. Naturally, I brought my frisbee and threw it to unknowing tourists. We swam after so many frisbees..

The new mates of state album is out, and I just got it. I had to download it, which is shameful to me, but I really wanted to support them by buying it. So I am going to buy it the first chance I get. I love the new album though. It makes me want to see them in concert again, which is a big deal, because I don’t like going to concerts much anymore. There is something about some concerts where I am just annoyed half of the time, so I am becoming very choosy of which ones I am going to attend, I guess. Mostly just Mates of State and Anathallo, because those bands are awesome in concert.

Laundry is done..

Busy, busy, busy with some grievances.

Hiked up to Glacier point via Panorama trail then back down on the 4 mile trail. Took about an 8 hour total round trip. It was my first time really experiencing the trail. There were some beautiful views that I might get a chance to post some pictures up here on. I got really really sunburnt on my thighs and a darker tan. It is so easy to forget to put on suntan lotion or not bring enough and get cooked.

I cannot believe that four weeks have already passed. It feels like I still just got here, but only in the sense of living here. I have pretty much already gotten my job stuff down pat. There are somethings I just need to say that bother me about the questions some silly (mostly idiotic) tourists. Coming to the ice cream shop:

- We have two different types of cones in our store. A cake cone and a sugar cone. 50% of the time when we ask the customers which they’d like, they tend to say “I will take the regular cone”. I am sorry. There has yet to be a regulated cone that everyone detects as “The regular cone”. I know this, because everytime I go to read your mind and try to pick “The regular cone” you get mad at me for picking the wrong one. Just point at a fucking cone for me.

- When you point into a curved, mostly blocked, ice cream case and point into the entire void of the freezer and say either “I want that one” or “What flavor is that one?”, I cannot see your finger or figure out what the fuck you are pointing at. Don’t be afraid to use colors in your questions, or is that too much to ask?

- When we ask you, “is that all?” and you say “yes”, that means to us that we are done serving you. When you go to the register and ask for 2 milkshakes and a latte, that’s not asking too much, but it is.

- We understand that you want your coffee drinks as hot as possible. But when you ask us to make it hotter than the surface of the devils ass-crack, its fucking impossible. Just take what the machine says is “hot as fuck” and drink it.

Just some things for everyone to remember :D