* tiny but powerful *

Yes, believe it or not, I am actually coming up for air in the blog world. I will give you a moment to get over the shock.

...

Okay, ready now?

Hi, yes, I'm alive. I had intended to post something earlier during winter break, but blogging is pretty low on my priority list these days, unfortunately. That's not to mention the lack-of-posting inertia, since I always feel like I have to somehow make up for the period of silence since I last wrote. But since the New Year's Eve pressure is on, I signed into Blogger with the hopes of forcing myself to post something before 2006 ends in 40 minutes. (This does mean, however, that this entry will in no way be comprehensive. I figure you can all deal with that.) Alright...ready, set, go!

Needless to say, my first year teaching high school has been seriously kicking my butt. I honestly don't think I've worked this hard ever in my life. I mean, yes, I was overcommitted in high school and college with a crazy class load and various extracurriculars, so I was often comparably busy and tired - but I don't think I've ever spent so much time and energy only on things considered work. I'm pretty much at school or doing school-related things any time I'm not driving, eating, or sleeping...and I definitely don't sleep enough (or eat enough, sometimes). I've had some pretty bizarre sleep schedules, such as not being able to stay awake after dinner and sleeping from 7-10, dragging myself up to do some more work until 1 or so and then passing out again, only to finally force myself up at 3 or 4 in the morning to finish (or try to finish) prepping things I need ready *for that day* and then going straight to school. This kind of schedule is not uncommon for me, although sometimes I manage to get my sleep in a continuous block.

I've been keeping a running log on my AIM profile of my Friday night sleep records this semester (i.e., how long Tina crashes after prolonged sleep deprivation each week), which I will now share with you because I'm sure you're extremely interested in such exciting Tina trivia:

08/25 - 12 hours
09/01 - 14 hours
09/08 - 10.5 hours
09/15 - doesn't count because we were at Woodleaf...I definitely didn't get enough sleep with a cabin of 23 chatty girls =P
09/22 - 10 hours
09/29 - 14 hours
10/06 - 11 hours
10/13 - 12.5 hours
10/20 - 9 hours (I had to be up for babysitting the next morning)
10/27 - 9 hours (we were on the Grace/RUF retreat, but I was still in bed by 10pm)
11/03 - 10 hours
11/09 - 11.5 hours (no school on 11/10!)
11/17 - 13 hours
11/21 - 10.5 hours (2-day week for Thanksgiving!)
12/01 - 6 hours...oof (Testimony Alumni Show weekend)
12/08 - 12 hours
12/15 - 12 hours

I've heard that November is the toughest month of the year for teachers (especially the first year), but I think I actually hit my emotional low during October. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up the sleep-deprived, non-stop work schedule (it turns out, of course, that it is sustainable, though it never feels like it is); December seemed like a LONG ways off; I was often just barely prepared for the next day (or even the next period); and I was constantly on the verge of tears - like if I slowed down enough, I would just start crying, so I had to keep going and not think about how incompetent I felt. I think I ended up in Marilyn's office crying in the middle of the school day at least three times that month (she's the mentor teacher in charge of the first-years, and I think of her as my teacher mom). November and December weren't really easier in terms of workload, but I didn't *feel* as overwhelmed, so overall they were easier to get through. Days off were a mixed blessing, because while it was wonderful to have longer weekends (especially for Thanksgiving!), I was super stressed about covering enough curriculum before winter break - and it did not help that the kids are SO checked out before any vacation.

But I made it to winter break! I actually didn't even LOOK at my work until after Christmas. And it's been so hard to get myself to concentrate on work again this week that Brian has had to yell at me to stay on task. My attention span has been pretty pathetic. This break has flown by way too quickly!

I guess it's once more into the breach. No promises on when I'll be able to write next, but I might try to squeeze in one more before school starts again on Wednesday. Actually, since I'll be at K's for a sleepover tomorrow night, it's entirely possible she won't let me sleep until I blog with her. ;)

I'm leaving this morning for a 3-day retreat with all the high schoolers at King's. It's called Woodleaf, which is a camp site used by Young Life programs for all of their retreats, and since a lot of our staff is Young-Life-affiliated, we structure a lot of things the same way. The purpose of the weekend is to hang out with the students outside of the classroom, listen to some talks and have discussions about faith issues, and otherwise just do crazy and fun things.

I'm having a hard time being excited about going because it feels like the worst timed weekend to have to be away. So far I've been using every weekend to plan for the upcoming week, and now I'm losing the weekend! Luckily we're cancelling school on Monday as a "recovery day" (they realized several years ago that none of the kids would show up even if school was scheduled), but I'm sure I'll need some of that day to actually recover. And then there's still all the planning I need to do, and progress reports are due on Tuesday (can we talk about more bad timing?), and...yeah, I'm just having a hard time putting all that aside in my mind. But I know this is an important time for us to bond with the kids, so I know it's for a good purpose. Just...sigh. I'm sure I'll feel better about it once I get there.

I didn't know until yesterday *where* exactly Woodleaf is, and it turns out it's way the heck out in the middle of nowhere in Brownsville, CA. So soon I'll be spending 4+ hours on a bus full of 10th grade girls...but at least I don't have to be on a boys' bus! :-P

So if you notice I'm completely MIA for the next three days (as opposed to just mostly MIA), that's where I am. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Only by God's grace did I make it through this first week... the kids have been great (so far), but there is just SO MUCH work to do. Basically my schedule has settled into getting up around 6:00, getting to school around 7:15, leaving school between 4:00 and 5:00, taking a short break and eating dinner, and then grading/prepping until I can't stay awake any longer. Most days that was roughly midnight, except Thursday when I had a headache and went to bed at 9:00 so I could wake up at 5:00 to finish prepping. I slept for 12 hours last night and I'm still tired! This is pretty much what I expected, but it's still *hard*.

I think one of the hardest things for me is fighting my perfectionist tendencies. This week I was barely a day ahead in planning for class (I have the scope & sequence planned for the quarter, but not the specifics for each lesson), and it drives me nuts not being able to be further ahead than that. Plus it's hard for me to stop working on one particular thing once it's "good enough", even though I really have to stop simply because there's not enough time for me to make everything as good as I want it. Add this to my indecisiveness ("hmmmm...is this really the best way? Would this be better or is this other way better??"), and I just completely freak out at the sheer volume of things I have to get done, which is paralyzing and, of course, not at all productive.

All that said, I did survive my first week. :-P Nothing went horribly, so overall I guess things went relatively well. I made plenty of mistakes, though (including embarrassing arithmetic mistakes in front of my Advanced Math class), and there's a lot of things I could do better next time, so now I feel pressure to redeem myself. :-P This whole week I was just trying to make it to Friday, and now that it's the weekend everything looming ahead seems even more daunting. At least I caught up on some sleep!

As always, I'd appreciate your prayers. This week my prayer requests would be for rest, protection against sickness, clarity of mind, and freedom from perfectionism. I'm really learning again what it means to trust that God is in control. I cannot even begin to express what a blessing it is to work with a staff that encourages me daily in remembering that it's all ultimately God's work, not ours! We're just in charge of being willing to serve. But boy, it's one thing to know that and another thing to really *rest* in that.

So...back to work! Soli Deo Gloria. :)

Please pray that God would give me peace...

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you." - Isaiah 43:5

"I'm forgiven, because You were forsaken..."

Monday morning: opening worship at the TKA Staff Retreat. I was already emotionally sensitive to the music because it's been awhile since I've had that style of worship. I guess I miss it.

"I'm accepted, You were condemned..."

I couldn't sing...I closed my eyes. But the tears came. It was like a slideshow of my past 6 years with God, scenes zooming by and then coming back, one by one.

"I'm alive and well, Your spirit lives within me..."

My first memory of this song: Rinc weekly worship sessions in Jonathan and Eric's room, freshman year. I'm pretty sure that's where I learned it. A lot of those songs were new to me at the time. That was...wow, a long time ago. God has brought me a long way since then. But what a vivid memory - especially with Erin Spokes standing two people away from me that morning. Erin - who lived next door to me freshman year and first invited to me those worship sessions. Those worship sessions - which helped me build relationships with Christ-followers in my dorm, with Eric and Bryan, all of whom helped me start to understand what "being Christian" was really all about.

"Because You died and rose again..."

Second memory: Crusade weekly meetings, junior and senior years. I was, once again, in a place where Jonathan was leading worship. The repertoire was often familiar - many songs I had learned freshman year. But the songs had a different dimension to them now. Tina, a confused freshman unsure of her faith, sang the song differently than Tina, halfway through college - through the fire of sophomore year, through Testimony, through directing, through burning out, through changing my major. The song was the same, but different. I was the same, but different.

"Amazing love, how can it be..."

Third memory: Attempting, quite sadly, to learn the guitar during my senior and fifth years. This song was one of, like, three that I could actually play through consistently without stopping. So when I got around to getting the guitar out of its case, this song appeared often from my fingertips, the words tagging along softly because the only key I could play it in felt a little high for my alto voice. But the song was comfortable. I felt comfortable with it.

"That You my King should die for me..."

Monnday morning: it had been awhile. But the song was still comfortable. The slideshow reminded me of how He has connected the dots over the years - and there was one more dot this time. This one's a big dot. I guess many of them are big, but I can be short-sighted.

"Amazing love, I know it's true..."

King's has been such an amazing blessing so far, and I'm sure I don't even know the half of it yet. Imagination has never been my strong suit. There's been so much floating around in my head that I haven't debriefed about it much with anyone, but mostly I'm just in awe. Admist all the anxiety and the stress and the excitement, I'm just...in awe. Can this really be? God is giving me this??

"And it's my joy to honor You..."

Monday morning: it was overwhelming. It was overwhelmingly clear that God is overwhelmingly good. All the dots came rushing back, pulling memories along with them, and the dots led right to where I was standing. In some ways I am scared out of my mind -- full-time teaching and full-time ministry, all in one?? -- but with God whom shall I fear?

"In all I do, I honor You."

I had put that line at the end of my baptism pledge, end of freshman year (June 10, 2001). Six years' worth of God's dots...

It struck me, as Erin stood two people away from me on Monday morning, that she had seen a piece of God's work in my life freshman year, and she is a part of another piece that's unfolding now. I reflected on the pieces in between. The imagery of pieces (from my testimony at Christmas Show 2003) came back again - but God gently reminded me of what He had taught me before (setting a good example - how many times will I have to do that in this career?). Who has been there for every single piece? Who knows the pieces that even I don't know or remember, as well as the pieces that are yet to come? There is only one.

"In all I do...let me honor You."

I wasn't able to sing a single word. But it was the most meaningful worship I'd had in a long time.

I was going to introduce my new friend in a post about Disneyland, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon, so I'm going to do this part first. Can you guess who it is from this sneak preview?

I bet you weren't expecting THAT!!! HEEHEE. He's been warmly welcomed by the rest of my fuzzy menagerie. Brian has a similar new friend, except his is orange and has stripes (though not white stripes, sorry Dory)...

"How are you feeling about school?" is not a good question to ask me right now. I'm feeling a whole lot of things all at once -- excited, scared, tired, nervous, thankful, amazed, overwhelmed, encouraged, frustrated, paralyzed, inspired, hopeful, unprepared, irritable, and *completely* freaked out.

And in it all, I know God will provide. He will give me what I need for today, and tomorrow He will give me what I need for tomorrow. But boy am I not feeling it right now.

So that's how I'm doing. One week and counting...

Training's been great so far. :) I really like all the other new teachers and the staff members who are training us. It's so funny because one of the teachers in training with me is a girl who was in my freshman WCT class! (That's what the Writing requirement was called before it became PWR, for those of you even younger than I. Yes, Kari, I went back and changed that just for you. ;) ) Everything has been very exciting, even if it is, as Marilyn put it, "like drinking from a fire hose."

I also spent a couple hours later in the afternoon scrubbing down my classroom with Brian's help. It was FILTHY in there...yechchch. We used up almost an entire roll of paper towels and probably half a bottle each of Mr. Clean and 409. I wiped down almost every flat surface I could find (desks, countertops, tables, bookshelves) - all except for the lab benches, because that's where all the chemistry books are currently being stored (and getting patched up with packing tape). There's just no way I was going to feel comfortable in that classroom if it was that dirty...cobwebs in every corner and a layer of dust covering almost everything. Ickkk.

The grossest thing that I am going to have to figure out how to deal with is... are you ready for this?... the school has a ROACH problem!!! Can I say, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww??? Becky, the other chemistry teacher, warned me that sometimes they'll just come out from nowhere and scurry across the floor. She, apparently of a similar disposition, said that she employed the scream-loudly-and-run-across-the-room approach, which is, of course, not ideal for classroom learning. Unfortunately I don't think there's any way I'm going to get over that exact same response any time soon. Becky recommended her solution of picking one of the boys in the class to be the designated "Hero" who can Save the Day when an intruder shows up. *shudder* So yes, one of our cleaning tasks today was sweeping dead roaches out the back door into the dirt. Remind me NEVER to wear open-toed shoes to school. *shudder again*

On a happier note, I found out my schedule assignment for the year! I mostly have my chemistry classes in one block and my math classes either on both ends or also in one block, depending on the day. If you want to see the confusingness that is our daily rotating schedule, take a look at last year's schedule. Some things are staying the same and some are being changed, but it's at least as equally confusing. It's going to take me all year just to learn the bell schedule...

By the way, anyone have suggestions on how I should decorate my classroom? You could even come visit and/or help me put things up if you're free in the afternoons this week or anytime Tues-Thurs of next week. Let me know - I'd love to hear your ideas!

...starts today! I'm nervous but really excited. Two weeks and counting until I start teaching *high school*. That's pretty crazy! I feel like a little kid again, getting my bookbag together for the first day of school (well, training) and not knowing what to expect. Everyone's been super nice, though, so I'm not scared. Here we go!

I haven't forgotten about writing about the rest of my LA trip. Posts are in progress! I'm going to try to do them in chronological order.

In the meantime, here's something random. On the way to Vienna Teng's concert in Hollywood, we saw this in the street:

I've never seen one like that before - have you?? I couldn't get my camera out fast enough the first time, so we drove back to it after the concert just to take a picture.

Well, even though U-turns are not allowed, I'm going to U-turn back to last week... don't follow the arrow though, the posts will be above this one. ;) Aha! That's what it means!

The mechanic was able to fix my car! The culprit was, indeed, the AC drainage tube. It's supposed to run down behind the glove compartment and out through the bottom of the car, but somehow the tube had gotten pulled up through the hole where it's supposed to sit and was literally dumping all of its water into the cabin of the car, not just leaking it out. They were able to locate it, pull it back out, and put some waterproof adhesive on it so it doesn't slip inside the car again. Bud from Precision Tune Auto Care in Palo Alto (on the corner of El Camino and Arastradero) really seems to know his stuff. I had a great experience with his shop both this time and when I took my Volvo in for its 90K tune-up. He's very friendly, unintimidating, knowledgeable, and trustworthy - my brother says it's really key to find a mechanic you can trust not to swindle you out of your money. A big plus for me is that this place is close enough for me to walk to/from my apartment when my car is being serviced. I'd highly recommend Precision Tune Auto Care if you ever need your car fixed!

Now my biggest worry is drying out the inside of my car. Bud said that mold is an imminent danger and that I may not be able to get rid of the moisture before bacteria starts infesting. Obviously that's a problem because it'll start to smell and contaminate the air. So Bud recommended lots of open air and Lysol. Brian and I squeezed out as much of the saturated water as we could and we've propped up both the back and the front pieces of floor foam, hoping airflow through the open windows will help clear it out. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get my car near an electrical outlet so I can go at it with a hair-dryer. Wish me luck!

So something in my car is leaking water...A LOT of water. Except the weird thing is that it's leaking INTO the car. We noticed during the drive down to LA that the floormat in front of my right backseat was wet with what seemed like water, and by the time we arrived it was REALLY soaked through - as in, there was literally an inch or two of standing water on top of the carpet! We were completely baffled - none of us have ever seen anything like it. It was definitely water, though, and not some toxic chemical ("or else I'd be dead now," says Brian - he spent the whole week using rags to soak up and wring out the accumulating puddle).

Today my brother came out to take a look at the car, and *he's* completely baffled too. Our best guess is that something is clogging up the drainage system from the AC condenser, but we don't know how that system is structured nor how all that water could be getting from under the hood all the way to *behind* the passenger seat inside the car (while skipping the floormat in *front* of the passenger seat, which so far is still dry). Tim dismantled the front seat and took it out, and when we peeled back the upholstery and foam there was SO MUCH WATER underneath. I can't even imagine what it would have looked like if Brian hadn't been emptying it out all week, and that's just the water that made it through several inches of foam AND the carpet. You can't see the water level too well in this picture, but if you click on it it'll give you an idea just how much water there was pooling up down there (this was taken after several rounds of mopping up some of the puddle).

Luckily, Tim found a rubber gasket near the back of all the foam that allowed us to drain most of the water that was currently at the bottom of the car. (My brother giggled as he unplugged and replugged the drainage hole because it looked like the car was peeing. Yes, folks, he is 20 years old. :-P) Hopefully that'll keep the foam a little more dry until we can find the source of all that water.

We brought my car to a local mechanic, where we didn't leave it behind because the manager whom my brother wanted to speak to wasn't in. Then we tried bringing it to the Toyota dealer in Sunnyvale, where they seemed baffled themselves and said we'd have to leave it for a diagnostic, which my brother didn't want to do either. So he's going to call the first mechanic tomorrow morning and explain the problem to the manager (preemptively helping his car-illiterate sister) before I bring it in.

How weird is that?? Maybe my car should be living at 435 Sheridan... :-P

From the bridesmaids' hangout two nights before her wedding...

Tina: "I'm pretty pooped, because we spent all day at Disneyland yesterday."
Jenn: "I can see why that would be poop-inducing."

Anna: "So you already picked up the marriage license? How does that work?"
Jenn: "It's like...a fishing license. You don't got fish yet, but you have permission to fish."
Bridesmaids (very loudly in a restaurant): "HAHAHAHAHA"

And yes, we thoroughly discussed all the ways that the fishing license analogy is imperfect. For example, catching more than one fish... ;)

It's good to be home. Driving back up only took 6.5 hours, including one bathroom break and two other driver changes (but no dinner break). No brushfires this time!

Here are some more pictures from the wedding to tide you over until I can catch up on blogging about the trip. Isn't Brian awesome? (These were even with less-than-ideal camera angles because he had to stay out of the way of the official photographer. Can you tell I'm his biggest fan?)

I am so glad I have this week to recover and change gears for starting my new job. I am totally people-d out right now. It was worth it, though. :)

P.S. Happy belated Birthday, bop!

We've been constantly on the go the past couple days so I haven't had time to update (or even really check email beyond glancing through them). But I have a lot to write about later! We went to: the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica beach, The Getty Museum, Vienna Teng's album release concert, and a full day of Disneyland/CA Adventures. It's been so much fun, but I'm pooped! We're leaving shortly to head back to RPV, so maybe I'll have time to write a little from there. But starting with dinner tonight, I'll be occupied with a full two days of wedding activities. Bye for now!

...the city, not the water brand. We're here visiting my freshman roommate, Emily, who just moved to LA with her fiance after spending the past two years in Philadelphia. It's soooo good to see her! Unfortunately, we're not going to get to see Mike because he left earlier today to drive to the location of his bar exam, which he'll be taking over the next three days (yipes). But it's so wonderful to finally catch up with Emily and just take our time hanging out for a whole evening. We spent awhile just chatting, went out to a great Indian place for dinner, and walked around Alhambra's Main Street for awhile. It's fun too because she hasn't met Brian before, so it's nice to connect two more people in my life. I feel like it's been *years* since Emily and I have spent such a huge amount of time together - I definitely haven't seen her in person since she graduated, and our junior and senior years were so busy (with both of us going abroad and also just in general) that we didn't meet up very often. It's still super easy to talk to her, though. Even though she hasn't been up to date on my *life* these past few years, I feel like she still really knows *me* - y'know what I mean? She saw me through a really important transition period of my life and there aren't a whole lot of people I was close to that year. A lot has been going on for her too (not the least of which is being engaged!), but she's still the same Emily that I grew up with (in a sense) six years ago. I'm so excited for her and this new chapter in her life. I love you, Em. :)

Interesting fact about Alhambra: The Starbucks has a Chinese version of the menu taped to the counter!

Nine hours, one dinner break, three stretching stops, 3/4 of a tank of gas, and a huge freeway-side brushfire later, we finally made it down to Chi-En's house in Rancho Palos Verdes. Whew! It's so fun to be here again - this house holds two tours' worth of Tmony memories. We're off soon to meet Steve for lunch and then visiting a very special Emily Dawson. I'm so excited! More later. :)

Man, it is HOT today. The heat this past week has made my ezcema itchiness come back. :( It's been more on my upper arms and not as much on my hands, which is good at least, but it's still quite uncomfortable and during the night I tend to scratch the itches, which has caused a couple red splotchy areas (read: bad for bridesmaid dress-wearing). The middle knuckle on my right hand is also especially susceptible to dryness/itchiness outbreaks (that's where the dry skin cracking first originated from during the winter). My corticosteroid creams aren't helping too much, and actually it's been hard for me to find a good place to store them because they're supposed to be stored between 59-86 degrees. The weather is too hot for my medicine for my itchiness from the hot weather! =P Boooo. No good.

Ice cubes have been a good short-term solution...but then they melt.

The wonderful wizard of...SoCal? Haha. Well, as if it weren't hot enough up here, we'll be spending the next week or so down in LA. Brian and I decided to go down several days in advance of all the wedding prep for Jenn and Adam's wedding, since it's not often that I have time off (this was planned before I knew I was leaving Emerson) and we were going to have to be in LA no later than mid-week anyway. So we're driving down with Chi-En tomorrow afternoon after church and then staying at her house for a couple nights before doing some stuff in the Hollywood and Anaheim areas. After that, I'll be back in Palos Verdes for a day and a half of wedding prep madness, and Saturday will find us up bright and early to be ready for a 10am wedding!

A brief summary of our plans:
Sun, July 23 - Drive down to LA
Mon - Lunch with Steve, maybe meeting up with Emily? (my freshman roomie!)
Tue - 8pm Vienna Teng concert (Brian is so stoked)
Wed - Disneyland!
Thu - Bridesmaids' party
Fri - Bridal party brunch, wedding rehearsal, dance lesson (Brian and I are teaching), rehearsal dinner
Sat - Adam and Jenn's wedding!!!
Sun, July 30 - Drive back to Bay Area

Not sure what the internet situation will be like down there, but I'll try to check email and maybe even post to the blog when I can. If you're lucky, you might even get some pictures! (Courtesy of Brian's camera, of course.)

Cell phone will be the best way to reach me for the next week. Take care, everyone!

P.S. I don't care if I get yelled at, but I will still call the freeway "101" and not "THE 101". Weirdo people in SoCal. ;)

Today was my last day! It was so sad to say goodbye to the kids. :( They wrote me letters and drew me pictures and gave me "goodbye packages"...it was all very cute. Monica's package included a baggie of snack and some post-its (so I can "sticky" my work!). Pierre even brought me a jar of homemade blackberry jam! Linda had them read their letters out loud at the end of the day, and it made me cry. :-P I'm really going to miss them...they'll always be my first kids. They've grown so much in the last year (and they've helped me grow more than they'll ever realize!). I'm really glad that at least I'm in a position to be able to visit in the future. Even after Emerson moves to another campus, they'll still be pretty close to where I live, and my new school isn't very far from here either.

I *am* very glad to be done, though. It's been hard to finish off my time at Emerson while also trying to prepare my brain for high school mode. I am super excited about my new job but also extremely nervous! I don't feel like I have enough time to sufficiently learn everything I'll need to know for this new ballgame. But I'm really thankful that The King's Academy seems to have a great support system in place for new teachers. The other teachers in my departments (yes, plural; I'll be the first teacher to teach across two core departments) have been incredibly nice and they've already spent time giving me advice, books, and old materials to get me started. It's going to be a whirlwind month until school begins on August 21st...and then the whirlwind will continue, I'm sure. Please keep me in your prayers! Thanks, as always. :)

One of my students' parents remarked that it was last year's writing camp when I had just started working at Emerson, and now that it's this year's writing camp I'm just about to leave. That made me realize that it was exactly one year ago today that I started teaching! Wow. It's also hard to believe that I only have seven days left at Emerson. It's going to be really sad to say goodbye to the kids and the staff, but I'll have to just take it as it comes. Busy times ahead!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favoritest boy!!!

[This text is a placeholder until I can finish my post about Bryan's and Kari's birthdays. Yay for Bryan and Kari!]

AHHHH! It's official! I will be teaching pre-calculus and chemistry at The King's Academy next year!!!

This has happened so fast I can hardly believe it, but one thing that both the school and I know is that this was all God's doing. There were just so many things that had to work out for everything to fit so well. Just...WOW. He is so faithful to provide. I'm so excited!!!

SOLI DEO GLORIA.

Wow.

My computer died. :( It won't boot up anymore. We're not sure if it's a hard disk problem or a more serious internal problem. Brian's trying to recover some of my more important recent data (e.g., the crazy application I've been trying to finish), and the rest of it we're hoping to restore from the complete backup we did about a month ago (my computer has been on the fritz for awhile, so we saw this coming). It just sucks that I lost my application work. SIGH. So if I'm less reachable than usual, that's why. I'll probably borrow Brian's laptop for a little awhile, but I'm very sad about my poor computer. :( Wake up, computer...come back...

*edit: Brian managed to find some recovery software where the demo version allows free recovery of files under 64K...so he was able to get my application files off the hard disk! YAY! Thanks Brian!!!

Last night Minna threw a dinner party, like a welcome-Minna-back-into-the-country/ wow-graduation-is-in-four-days kind of party. She cooked up a storm and we all got to taste some amazing Bolivian cuisine! The main dish was this pile-it-yourself towering pyramid of (in this order) brown rice, meat patty, fried egg, fried potato slices, and diced vegetables. It was delicious! We also got to taste the wonders of Mineragua, which was like a cross between Sprite and Squirt. I liked it all...yummy yummy. Thanks Minna!

Then we got to see an entertaining slideshow of all her pictures from three months in Bolivia. She was there with Hospitals of Hope, which provides basic medical services to people in third-world countries. From what I could tell, Minna was at any time serving as some combination of: nurse, pharmacist, teacher, babysitter, musician, dancer, actor, carpenter, painter, janitor, and arsonist. ;) It was so cool to see pictures of all the things we'd been hearing about in her update letters. I can't wait to hear more!

What was also really cool about the party is that I got to see a whole bunch of old orchestra friends that I haven't really seen or talked to in the past year (or two, or three...). Scott Blankenship, Mike Kodiak, Evan Kirby...man, we go back a long way. We realized that we were all on the SSO tour *two* tours ago, in the summer of 2002. I've known Mike and Evan even longer than that: we relived memories of being in the same building during Sophomore College (what a bonding experience that was during September 11th) and competing against each other in The Game; we all went on the CUE soundtrack recording trip to Skywalker Ranch at the end of our first year in SSO; and Mike and I reminisced about the group project we did on Frankenstein for IHUM fall quarter of freshman year. That's, like, almost 6 years ago! So crazy!

*Side note 1: Bryan, Eric, Kari, and I were also recently marveling at how long it's been that we've been friends, but that warrants its own post. It'll come soon, I promise.
*Side note 2: We realized that Evan single-handedly inspired me to start keeping a quote page during Sophomore College. See for yourself the first three quotes I recorded for all eternity (they're at the bottom of the page).
*Side note 3: Speaking of quotes, here's one from the party:
"Did you speak Bolivian to them?" - Mike K.
"... you mean, Spanish?" - Minna

I guess I realized last night how much I really miss orchestra. Mike had chamber music playing during the dinner party, and everyone was looking at the memorabilia collection from last summer's SSO tour (which Minna went on with all our mutual orchestra friends. It's so funny that she and I were never actually in SSO at the same time!). We were laughing at all the tour memories, and the nostalgia just really hit me. I've been missing playing classical music for awhile, and there's a culture of musician humor that you just don't find anywhere else. I'm seriously entertaining the thought of re-auditioning for SSO instead of doing DL next year. Of course, I'm so out of practice that I'm not sure I'd get in anymore...but it's definitely worth some thought. Maybe this summer Minna can kick me into shape! We could play duets! :-D

It was so much fun to reconnect with my orchestra self last night and to hang out again with good music friends. I hope to run into them more often now that I'll be holding Minna hostage in the next ro--I mean, living with Minna. ;) Actually, I'm sure she could attack me in my sleep in more ways than one, so there won't be any funny business from me...

Here's to old friends and memories! :)

There's a lot to be thankful for, so I just wanted to share!

In no particular order...
- May is OVER!
- not having to commute 2+ hours anymore
- seeing my kiddies again
- the Kindergarteners ran over to give me a big, long hug
- having gotten to know the Hacienda teachers and kids well, even though I was only there for a month
- God totally seeing me through the housing situation even though I was frustrated about only having one week to decide
- Brian's constant reminders that God will provide
- Minna and I both convinced that He intercepted us Tuesday night and made it possible for us to talk... (if you want to hear the story, ask me!)
- I'm soooooo exciiiiiited to live with Minnaaaaaaaa for the coming year!!!
- NOT HAVING TO MOVE. AHHHH!
- Brian: "See, God's efficient -- answering two prayers in one!"
- having found decent room options in the case that I would have had to move
- thank God for craigslist!
- Justin: "also, God works through Google. clearly."
- fun dim sum outing with my family and Brian's family over the weekend
- they seemed to like each other :)
- catching up with moo
- looking forward to dinner with David and Mindi next week! and seeing Kylieeeeeeee hopefully awake!!!
- awesome discussions with my small group
- Mindi always has the best cheese...yummm
- Jenn's coming up just in time for the RUF party!
- friends who trust me
- seeing God's faithfulness in both the good things and the bad
- so much more that I'm not remembering right now...

I am DONE with my month in Pleasanton! :-D I am SO glad May is over...for more reasons than one. I hereby forbid anyone else from giving me short-notice changes, at least for the next month. Can you all handle that? :-P

I found out tonight that a suspect has actually been named in the Jenny Lin case. WOW. I cannot express to you how crazy that seems to me. It has been 12 YEARS, and the Jenny Lin Foundation has been a huge part of my experience as a musician in Castro Valley. I can't even imagine what Mr. and Mrs. Lin must be feeling right now. I saw them on the 10 o'clock news - Channel 2 spent about 5 minutes on the case right at the beginning. I know it's just a suspect and they haven't even charged him yet, but having ANYTHING on the case just seems so unbelievable. It's been so long...

(For those of you wondering, no, I was not a close friend of Jenny's, but she lived two streets over from where my family lived at the time, so it was very close to home...literally. Their house was the same model as ours, so I used to be too terrified to go into my parents' bathroom at night. I knew Jenny as an acquaintance in middle school, because she was the pianist for the 7th/8th grade orchestra and I was the pianist for the 6th grade orchestra (this was before my time as a violinist, believe it or not). The creepy thing is that one of my brother's friends lived next door to the Lins and he was over at our house that night. Who knows what might have happened if he'd been home with his family to notice their dog barking...)

My thoughts and prayers are with you, Mr. and Mrs. Lin.

I figured out a way to make myself smile during the Big Apple: envisioning an apple getting chopped up into little pieces and then chomped up. It's at least amusing enough to get my face muscles to pull the corners of my mouth upwards. That, and Mohan gets a kick out of it, so when he's cracking up on the other side of the circle that helps too. Die, Apple, die! Hahahaha.

Spring Show was awesome, and I love the new CD. :-D Maybe more details later, but right now, I'm just barely surviving the weekend...

We love you, Mom! :)

Hope you're enjoying Vancouver with your friends! I love you!

From CNN.com - "5 Tips: Battling a sick office": "A recent study commissioned by Clorox Company found that teachers had the germiest jobs. In fact teachers had 10 times the germ rates than any other profession, according to Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona who did the study. That's because they're around kids most of the time - notorious germ spreaders."

And from the news clip:

GERMY JOBS
(Germs per square inch)

Profession:	Germ count:
Teachers	17800
Accountants	6030
TV Producers	2460
Lawyers	900

Wow. :-P

... Allergies, Back Pain, and Commute, my three new friends courtesy of working in Pleasanton. :-P

My week got off to a bad start on Monday. There was a stalled car on Charleston so it took me 15 minutes just to get to 101, which, in addition to the traffic on 101, 237, and 880, put me 15 minutes late in arriving to Pleasanton. I got there to find out that one of the Lower El teachers was sick with a bacterial infection, so I was to cover for her the rest of the morning and also do lunch coverage before taking my own lunch break. Most of this was fine except that, on Mondays, Lower El takes a "walk" right before lunch. Apparently, this "walk" lasts close to an hour and covers about 2 miles. I wasn't prepared with a hat or any sunscreen (though luckily I was wearing the correct shoes), but that would probably have been bearable were it not for the fact that, after the initial few blocks down a main street, the route turned onto one of those trails that run behind houses/along a creek...completely lined with all sorts of tall weeds. By the time we got back to school, I felt like my face was going on strike against itself. I think I blew my nose with five tissues in a row. So lunch duty after that was exciting. The play yard is just a wide open space so it was extremely windy, which didn't help my itchy eyes, but at least I was in the shade and no longer surrounded by tall weeds.

I had hoped that today would be better without traipsing through the allergens, and it was a little better, but everyone once in awhile I got a runny nose attack or an unbearable urge to rub my eyes. I haven't decided yet whether the prescription Allegra I had from the eczema is effective on everyday allergies. I may need to explore some other options. I also picked up some of the allergy eye drops that my dad used to give me, so hopefully that'll help.

The "B" and "C" companions are fairly self-explanatory. The commute has been taking over an hour each way (a little longer on the way back), and I just do not deal well with long drives. The back pain that I had so happily gotten rid of after graduating is now back. (Not that I drove a lot during college, but classes and computer time accounted for long periods of sitting.) I'm not 100% sure why my back hadn't been hurting much over the last 10 months, but I think it can be attributed to a combination of (a) not driving to work and (b) being more active during work hours. I really, really, really hope it goes away again after I stop working in Pleasanton.

Now that I've gotten all that complaining out of my system, I want to list the things I'm thankful for about Hacienda School:
- Tiffany doing her best to arrange a nice schedule for me
- all the teachers helping me transition and trying to make things easy for me
- the kids being so friendly and helpful
- not having too hard of a time learning their names...I've almost got all of them!
- the refreshing feeling of being in real classrooms in a real school building
- cleanliness and tidiness
- a comfortable teacher workroom
- being able to park close to the school building
- even though the drive is long, thank God it's counter-commute during rush hour
- Upper El has a cute white bunny named Marshmallow! so cute! (he comes over to lick your finger) :)

Check your voicemail. :)

I'll be working in Pleasanton for the remainder of this month. The umbrella organization that runs my school also runs another K-8 school out in Pleasanton (called Hacienda School), in addition to three preschool centers (located in Palo Alto, Pleasanton, and San Jose). Hacienda recently had one of their teachers quit, so I have to go over there to fill in while they interview to hire a new teacher. It's going to make May even more tiring and busy for me, but hey, who doesn't like some adventure? Oh wait, that would be me. :-P

I made it through my fifth Big Dance in a row! This time it was definitely much harder to stay up until 6am. (For those of you unacquainted with Big Dance, it's an all-nighter social dance event that lasts from 9pm-6am. Yes, we are all annually insane.) This year, no longer being a student, I had anticipated that I might not make it to the end. I'm always so tired on Fridays, and as the years go by I become less and less able to stay up late for any reason (even schoolwork, as I noticed during my fifth year of college). As it turned out, I ended up taking Friday off from work. That certainly upped my chances of staying awake at Big Dance, but since it came after a long week of work drama, the positive and negative factors kind of evened themselves out.

Overall, I had a pretty good time at Big Dance this year. It was the first year in a long time that I had very few responsibilities during the night (and actually, I still have never paid for a Big Dance ticket), so it was nice not to have to worry about anything super important. Danse Libre's performance was early in the evening, and I think it went pretty well. Energy was high (though the music was blasting way too loud during the Rio Tango), and the audience seemed to enjoy all three pieces. I appreciated having friends in the audience right out in front of me beaming the whole time -- thanks guys! It helped make the performance fun. :) Between our performing, watching all the other groups' performances, and "judging" the accelerating waltz contest, the first few hours of Big Dance passed by pretty quickly. Right around 12:30, though, I hit my first phase of extreme sleepiness. You know, when your body first realizes, "Hey, I should be asleep!" I battled through that period by killing time until Swingtime and Decadance's performances and getting some blood flowing with the first few of Richard's DJ-ed songs.

I seemed to catch a second wind for a little while, but it was short-lived. Finding the 2-4am Latin jazz band rather uninteresting, I felt the drowsiness setting in again with greater force. At this point, the prospect of making it to 6am looked pretty grim. Luckily, Kari saved the day (err, night?) by offering to make a Jack-in-the-Box run. I snagged a quick 30-minute nap on a couch while she and Bryan went to get food (yes, I fully admit that I cheated). That was really the turning point for me -- without the extra sustenance, I doubt I would have been motivated to leave the couch, much less wake up enough for more dancing. :-P Amazing what a couple tacos and a few sips of soda can do! It was 3:30 by then, and there was plenty to keep me active and/or distracted after that: the video montage of dance scenes from movies, Eric's birthday dance, the lullaby gauntlet (and subsequent wake-up dances), the Dawn Mazurka, and the various end-of-Big-Dance traditions. (If you're wondering what the Dawn Mazurka is, here's a tidbit from Richard's email last week: "There was a 19th century tradition at all-night balls to dance the most difficult and exhilarating dance - the Mazurka - at the first silvery light of dawn, to show that you weren't tired. This Bialy Mazur tradition, or 'White Mazurka,' has completely disappeared, except at Stanford's Big Dance, where every dawn for 12 [now 13!] years has seen the 1856 'Russian Mazurka Quadrille' danced around 5am.")

I had been doubtful about doing the Dawn Mazurka this year, because I didn't want to risk it with people I didn't know well. I was sure the room would be chaotic with possibly 100+ newbies (who just learned it last week in a two-hour class) crammed onto so little floor space. Fortunately, Kari and I talked about forming a set halfway through the night, so she was able to get Richard and Tracey and Julie (with a random partner) to join us. We had only a few minor mishaps, and otherwise made it through the entire choreography just fine. Go set!!

So that was Big Dance for me. Most of the night I was preoccupied with just staying awake, but it was definitely fun to see people who I don't see very often and catch all the mini-events of the night. I didn't have very much people energy, though (due to the aforementioned work drama), so I wasn't very proactive in striking up conversations or dancing with people other than Brian. I enjoyed all the dances I did have, so thank you if you shared one with me. :)

A total of 212 crazy people made it to 6am! Here's the all-nighter picture (sadly missing Brian, who had to use a stepladder due to the lack of balcony and therefore couldn't use a tripod):


In the aftermath, my body clock has been all messed up today. I woke up around 1:00 to take Melisa to the airport, and after that I did some grocery shopping at Ranch 99 and the Chinese bakery next door. I had intended to visit my mom at her flea market booth at De Anza College, but just as I was on my way there, she called and said everyone was packing up early. So I didn't end up going, but that's okay. Later in the afternoon, Brian took me to Costco to get some last things for Jenn's bridal shower tomorrow, and I promptly fell asleep for a few hours after getting back to my apartment. Now that I've eaten a super late dinner, I'm awake and groggy but not *sleepy*, so I'm not sure when I'll actually get to sleep tonight. :-P But such is life after Big Dance. Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Aurora showed up for a surprise visit with baby Yeray today! It was so wonderful to see her!!! And Yeray is adorable, of course. He was wearing a cute little fuzzy orange outfit (I can see Rob nodding his head in approval). Linda, Jaime, and I just happened to be going out to lunch together (something we've been trying to do for months), so it was perfect timing for Aurora to come along. It was so nice to catch up and hear about life with the new baby and the new house. I'm really looking forward to having her back in June! :)

What a wonderful wedding celebration. :) Many blessings on your new life together!

May your marriage be full of love, grace, dancing, and yellow things!

[Photo courtesy of (who else?) Brian Lee, who will soon be in business as the awesomest wedding photographer ever! Inquire for details. :-D]

My mom and brother are coming today to meet me for lunch and to pick up my Volvo. :( Tim is taking it back to Castro Valley to prepare it for sale. There's nothing wrong with it, but since I had to do the 90k tune-up recently, my brother pointed out that European cars are really expensive to maintain once they get older. I had asked him to help me find a car place for the tune-up (since I'm totally car-illiterate), and he was shocked at the price most places quoted. Luckily, it turned out that Volvos don't need a timing belt replacement until 100k, so we found a relatively good deal on a simpler tune-up. Tim suggested that I sell the Volvo while I can still get a good $6-7k out of it and put it toward another car. Within the new few years, I'd probably have to do the more comprehensive $1000+ maintenance and most likely replace other parts from wear-and-tear, too. So I decided it would be a wiser use of my money to pay the difference between the Volvo and a newer used car *now* and then be left with a car in better shape than the Volvo would have been if I had put that same amount of money into fixing it up.

So all that is to say that I am now a proud new owner of a 2003 Camry. :) My brother picked the Camry because they're reliable, gas-efficient, and inexpensive to maintain. (According to this CNN article yesterday, we made the right choice!) Car shopping actually turned out to be a surprisingly quick process. From the time when my brother and I started talking about selling the Volvo until the actual purchase of the Camry was only about 10 days! This was, of course, thanks to the expertise of my brother, the official car guru of the family. He really did all the work -- making recommendations, finding postings on craigslist, calling and negotiating, and checking out the car parts under the hood. Thanks so much for all your help, Tim!!

It's still sad to say goodbye to my Volvo, though. I learned to drive on it, and I drove it through all of high school and most of college (except for a couple years when my brother was learning to drive). We all know how much I'm a creature of habit. :-P I definitely would have kept the Volvo for a long time if it made more sense financially. But I really do like my Camry, too. It was kept VERY clean by the previous owner, and Tim says we got a great deal on the price. (My parents don't think so, but that's because they don't believe in getting used cars. For me, though, it would have been a waste to spend all that much extra money just for the car to be brand new.)

So I guess this is it. Farewell, dear Volvo... may you have a good next owner!

I noticed last night that I could yawn at full capacity! And my left cheek is almost entirely separate from my left gums now, which is also exciting. Yay for normal mouth functioning!

As most of you know, my wisdom teeth surgery went very well. Thanks to Brian, my frozen-pea-pack nazi, the swelling wasn't even too bad. I had kind of a one-sided chipmunk look going for a little while, but it subsided within a few days. The chipmunk-y side was on the left, because for some reason I needed stitches on that side but not the other. It was certainly strange having a big gaping hole on the right side of my mouth and having my cheek attached to my gums on the left. But it's pretty much all better now, except for the slowly diminishing hole on the right. The syringe they give you to clean it out is pretty cool (and good for scaring people, heehee).

Over the course of my recovery weekend, Brian managed to get me hooked on his beloved TV show, "24". I think it's addicting because it moves so slowly! I mean, not slow in that nothing happens, but I just wanted to know how it all ended, and things never *end* in that show. So we watched a lot back-to-back over the weekend, and we got far enough in the season that I just had to finish it. A day off from work and a couple lunch breaks later, I made it to the end (though of course there's a new cliffhanger there too). Bop joked that she'd never seen me watch so much TV at one time, and I think that's probably true. But now that I'm done with that season (it was Season 2), I don't particularly want to start another one. Hahaha. The coming month is busy enough that I wouldn't be able to watch a whole lot in one sitting, anyway.

So there you have it. "24" has officially been added to a very short list of TV shows that I would actually actively want to watch. (Previously, only "The West Wing" made the cut, if you're curious.) Brian was pretty proud of himself.

Q: Frozen peas...you mean, the food?
A: Yes.

Q: You're using them on your face?
A: Yes - well, still packaged. :-P

Q: Why aren't you using, say, ice packs?
A: My oral surgeon recommended frozen peas instead because they mold to the shape of your face better and also retain coldness longer.

Q: Are they working?
A: Yes! Quite well.

Q: Are there any side effects?
A: Unfortunately, my cheeks now smell faintly of peas. :-P

Even though I am not "in" school anymore and therefore don't have a real Spring Break, the last two weeks have been a nice break from some of my weekly evening activities (namely, RUF and small group). DL also completed our recent string of performances every weekend, so we finally have a weekend free. It's pretty amazing - my Outlook calendar actually showed FOUR straight nights of nothing scheduled! Crazy, I know.

As it turned out, a quiet week is exactly what I needed. I felt like I was coming down with something by the end of work on Monday, and two other teachers were also feeling headachy at the end of the day. I was worried that we might have caught something from the kids. Luckily, a dose of Airborne and lots of tea seemed to help me gain a foothold -- go immune system! I was actually feeling better by the end of DL rehearsal instead of worse. Still, it feels like my body has been fighting it off all week, as evidenced by my higher-than-usual level of fatigue. On Tuesday after dinner I zonked out for a two-hour nap, on Thursday a one-hour nap, and today during lunch a 20-minute power-nap. It's been a rough week at work all around; as Maida said, "This is why normal teachers get a break right around now...everyone needs it!"

I actually will be taking time off next week, but not for anything pleasant. :-P I'm having my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning, and I am reeeeally not looking forward to it. I'm scared! :( I've never been in any medical situation that required more than an X-ray. My roommate, a recent veteran, reassures me that it'll be fine, especially since I'm having general anesthesia and therefore won't feel anything during the actual surgery, but I'm still scared of the aftermath. I know I'll be okay...I'm just nervous. :-P I'm grateful to have good friends and nearby family to take care of me! Time to stock up on soft foods, frozen peas (to use as ice packs, not to eat!), and pain medication...

Speaking of non-Spring Breaks, I'm ready for the rain to stop! :-P

It's been a long and unsteady process, but my hands are doing much better than they were a few weeks ago. For awhile, I went through this phase where most of my skin was doing well *except* for the palms of my hands, which were extremely itchy and driving me crazy. THAT was annoying, let me tell you. My hands are still pretty sensitive to heat and friction, but the various changes I've made to my routine (e.g., taking lukewarm showers, using rubber gloves to wash dishes both at home and at school, etc.) seem to have helped significantly. And my arms and face seem to be pretty much normal now. Thanks for all the concern, tips, and prayers!

There's also been progress on figuring out what next year may look like for me, which is a relief. Some decisions I'd been debating became clear over time, and while the others aren't completely settled, I've at least gotten more information about them. It wouldn't be appropriate to blog about more specific details until things are finalized, but feel free to ask me about it in conversation. :)

Over the past week or so, "leprechauns" have been raiding our classroom at night and wreaking havoc with green and/or gold things. For example, we found sparkly green confetti on desks, gold sequins spilling in from a windowsill, and, one morning, our milk turned...GREEN! :-O The kids had an assignment to design/build a leprechaun trap, which they brought in the day before St. Patrick's Day in hopes of catching any leprechauns that might dare return to our classroom. Unfortunately, we didn't get catch any this year -- but we think we were close! Each of their traps had a tiny mesh sac full of gold glitter and a little message. Whew...better luck next time! ;)

I prepared a clover hunt game for our St. Patrick's Day celebration, which ended up working really well. I hid a ton of paper shamrocks all over the classroom, including a large handful that were actually four-leaf clovers. Those four-leaf ones each had a letter on it (and an extra word written in the corner) that they had to compile and unscramble to decode a secret message. Once they had those clovers in the right order, the extra words would spell out a clue as to where the prize was hidden. I was worried that the game might be too easy, but it was actually moderately challenging and even the older kids got into it (I'd forgotten that there were repeat letters in the phrase they had to unscramble). They were so excited when they finally found the "treasure" -- clover-shaped coupons good for "one free job" (i.e., not having to do one of their weekly assignments, to be redeemed whenever they choose). I was glad they had so much fun with it!

Also during the party, Linda helped Lower El make potato soup from fresh ingredients. It was yummmmmy...now I want to get that recipe so I can make some myself! Mmmmmm.

... but I sure wish it could! =P My hands, which I previously reported as chapped and bleeding, are mostly healed from the bleeding but are instead now rashy all over. Recently, it started to spread to my arms and some of my face, so I finally went in to see a nurse at Kaiser today. (I was supposed to have a morning appointment with my doctor, but it got cancelled at the last minute because she called in sick. I opted to see a nurse later in the afternoon instead of waiting any longer for a rescheduled appointment.) Anyway, apparently I have eczema. I am now armed with an assortment of different strength creams and antihistamines, for use depending on the body part and the time of day (stronger cream on hands than arms than face, and stronger antihistamine at night when drowsiness is a positive side effect). Whoopee. Just make the itchiness go away...it's been driving me NUTS!!! It's especially poopy that temperature is no-win situation -- I'm almost always cold, but heat and friction (e.g., warm showers, wearing long sleeves) make the itching worse. So I have to be either cold or itchy, and it usually ends up being both. BAH!

AHHHHHH! SO EXCITING!!! Congratulations to two very special people on their engagement -- may the Lord bless your journey ahead!!

I still remember when Adam first told me he and Jenn were dating (this was their freshman year, my junior year, and we were all in Testimony together). I was abroad in Madrid at the time, and I had signed on for my daily 30 minutes of internet. He and I were IMing, but I switched windows to write an email. When I got back I saw a message that said, "Hey guess what? Jenn and I are dating" (or something to that effect). Keep in mind that I had NO IDEA there was anything brewing before I left for my quarter off (they claim that it really only came up around dead week/finals week), so this was a COMPLETE surprise. They were just my little freshmen!! So when I saw Adam's IM, I was like, "What??? Jenn, our Jenn??" -- to which he responded, "Oh, sorry, I gotta go! Bye!" I was like, HEY! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD! :-P It took a few days for me to get the full story and to get over the shock. Hahahaha. Wow, that was a long time ago. What a long way God has brought you two! I am so glad that I have been around for all of it and I'm so excited to see where He leads you now!!

(Apparently Mindi and Kylie were supposed to make an appearance at RUF tonight, but they ended up not being able to make it. :( But I guess it worked out because we could focus all our excitement on Adam and Jenn! Wheeee!!)

In large part thanks to Brian, his camera, and his willingness to let me steal it occasionally, here's a photo update of various February events. In reverse chronological order...

For the third year in a row, I was blessed with a very blue birthday cake -- this time courtesy of the best cake-buying liar ever and the worst cake-buying liar ever. At least they make a good team. ;) Among the number of cool gifts I received (which were, of course, from cool friends), the one that can only be described by sharing a picture is the amazing shadow-box frame that Melisa put together for me -- complete with a miniature clay replica of my Victorian gown (she used the clay craft kit I got her for Christmas!). It's soooo cool! I love it! [The other pictures from my birthday are posted here.]

Speaking of my Victorian gown, even though probably no one noticed while I was wearing it, I'm soooo much happier with my dress now. Can anyone tell what's different?

In keeping with Tina-tradition, I made my own boutonniere for Viennese Ball instead of ordering one from the florist. I like to write something personalized on the ribbon, like our names and "Viennese Ball 2006", but you can't see that in the picture. This year I taught Carrie how to do it too, even though it ended up taking a majority of the one hour we had to get ready for the Ball. (So Felix, you better shush about girls always making guys wait while we finish getting dressed! We had a good reason, and we didn't even take that long. Hmph. Good thing she showed you what's up!)

Luckily Felix didn't suffer too much damage, because he recovered enough to take a picture with Brian's camera that has become my all-time favorite of me and Brian. As most of you know, Brian is pretty hard to catch on "film" since he's almost always behind a camera himself. So it's a pretty big feat for me to be in a picture with him AND have him smiling! [The rest of Brian's Viennese Ball pictures are online here.]

And who could forget two other very special birthdays this month? Baby Kylie and Baby Yeray were born 3 days apart, and at the same hospital no less! In fact, I think Mindi and Aurora just barely missed being in the same maternity ward at the same time. You can see in these pictures that they're wearing the same kind of hospital gown and their babies are in the same tiny yellow beanies! Awwww...so cute!!! I can't wait until their immune systems are strong enough to be around more people!

It's hard to believe that Aurora had only been on maternity for one week before Yeray was born. Her baby shower was just 8 days before the baby came! So crazy. But I hear that mom and baby are doing well and resting at home (as are Mindi and Kylie). Linda and I had fun sprucing up Aurora's baby shower because we knew she wasn't getting a "real" one outside of our school celebration. Since I'd only been to one baby shower before, I basically recycled all the games we did at Mindi's baby shower. See here my rendition of "Pin the Umbilical Cord on the Baby." I drew it by looking at a cartoon image and revising it a little to scale it up...luckily it turned out pretty well! I wasn't really sure how to draw umbilical cords, but half of the class was busy trying to find the funniest place to stick theirs on the poster, so I don't think any of them noticed.

I had the kids do an art project that we contributed to Aurora's baby scrapbook. We took some buttons and arranged them to look like a dragonfly by little tissue paper wings and other details with a pen. I'm not going to post all of the pictures here, but they wrote some really cute (and hilarious) messages on their pages. To give a few examples...

"Dear Aurora, I am so excited for your baby to come. It's going to be a great baby."
"I bet your baby will be cute because you are too!"
"Dear Aurora, I hope your baby turns out well."
"Dear Baby, I love you. From, Marcus"

Linda brought Stephanie in towards the end of the party, and it's always fun to see how fast that little one is growing. She's such a smiley baby, too! She's very peaceful and she loves it when the kids in our class make faces at her (okay, only the girls do). This picture is funny because Linda was just saying to Aurora, "See, this is what you're going to get soon!" Hahaha...we sure didn't know just how soon that would be!

I hope you got my phone message! I miss you and hope we can talk soon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :)

The class just "surprised" me for my birthday! ;) The Kindergarteners did a better job than with Linda's surprise, at least, so there was progress. ;) I could hear a lot of whispering, and I tried not to listen, but some of it was too hard to ignore...

"T...like in Thomas?"
"Yeah, or like Tina!"
"SHHHH, you're not supposed to say that!"
"Say what?"
"TINA! You're not supposed to say Tina!"
"Why?"
"SHHHH!"

Finally Linda gave up and just said, "Hey Tina, we need you over here...it's your turn. ;)" Hahahaha. The kids were very cute -- they made me a "birthday booklet" with all their notes, mounted on blue paper. And the teachers gave me a joint gift that included scented candles, a Classic Pooh stuffed bear, and a matching Classic Pooh/Piglet plush throw. More soft and squishy things!

The best part? Linda ended up getting me a Star Wars cake, complete with orange icing flames and a plastic toy shaped like Darth Vader's mask. No, I am not kidding. Ask me to show it to you. She said it was either that or a pink cake, and she knows I don't like pink, so she decided to go with Star Wars (it had blue icing trim). So hilarious!!!

An interesting article about why math needs a new image: "Biases must be tackled to achieve gender equity in mathematics"

You all know I'm not a feminist, so I don't automatically think equity (in anything) is necessarily the ultimate goal. (This is because I don't believe that equity, or fairness, is always the same thing as justice.) But the article brings up some good food for thought, particularly about whether cultural bias is introduced in elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and/or career opportunities and choices.

(In case you're out of the loop, I want to teach math eventually. :) )

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special! I had a wonderful day spent with friends and family. :) Once I woke up from my post-Viennese torpor, several of us went out to dim sum and then returned to varying levels of torpor and Mario-song singing. In the evening, we met up with more people for dinner at my all-time favorite Chinese restaurant (Windy's, of course) and games back at the bop residence (which people think should be Apt. B or W, instead of K). The cake execution was funny but still surprising, so thanks! ;) I also really appreciate all the cards, e-cards, and IMs with birthday wishes and the very thoughtful gifts I received. A big THANK YOU to all of you!

I'm really thankful for being able to see and spend time with so many people on my birthday, especially considering the fact that most of us have graduated and I'm just lucky enough that everyone's still living close by. I don't take that for granted, and I thank God for every one of you! Praise Him from whom all blessings flow. :)

Viennese sneaks up on you when you're not in (or sitting for) Opening. Bop and I have been saying all week, "VBall is this Friday??" ... "in 3 days?!" ... "tomorrow!?"

It's definitely a lot less stressful this year without schoolwork or classes, but I'm not sure how much energy I'll have late at night now that I'm used to a working-person's bedtime. I'm usually pretty pooped on Fridays after work, but I guess this is a shorter week and I'm getting off a little earlier today. (Actually, it so happens that all the kids are getting picked up around the time I'll be leaving anyway, because the school is closing early for a Staff Retreat this weekend. I'm missing it because of VBall.)

This will be the first time since 2002 (the first year I went) that I won't beating Friday rush hour by getting to the hotel at 2:45. But I'm not driving, so thanks Felix. ;) I also get to have dinner at a normal hour and normal pace! Exciting times.

Danse Libre is performing at 9:40 in the Waltz Room. Come see us!

Over the 3-day weekend, Brian and I spent a day up in SF to celebrate a combination of 3 things, one of which is our 3-month today. (Heehee, I just wanted to write that sentence full of 3's...and I'm going to publish this at exactly 3:03pm! I'm so funny.)

This winter has not been kind to my hands. Apparently the extra two or so hours I spend outside during the school day have really taken a toll, and the skin all over my hands has been extremely dry and chapped. It's especially bad around my knuckles (where the skin moves the most); several places are bleeding and/or rashy. It doesn't help that I wash my hands about two dozen times a day, and our classroom sink only runs freezing cold water. Paper cuts have also been taking a long time to heal. So if you see me with bandaids all over my hands, that's why. :-P Anyone know of a good hand cream they'd recommend?

Phew...it's been a crazy day at school. I'm working 8-5 because Jaime and Maida are out, and now that Aurora's on maternity leave I also have lunch duty on Tuesdays and Fridays. But today, Linda's baby is sick with an ear infection and she had to take her to the doctor in the middle of the morning, so we had to shuffle teachers and students around in order to cover everything. During my supposed lunch break, I spent the hour prepping for the Valentine's party scheduled for 1-3pm. I had wanted to set things up earlier in the morning, but their Valentine's box art projects took way longer than expected (and even now most of their robots don't have arms). Little Stephanie slept through most of the party, but now she's awake and crying and refusing to swallow her medicine, so Linda's leaving early. Poor Stephanie. :( I'm exhausted though. It's been go-go-go since 8:00 and I don't have any breaks before I get off at 5:00. I can't even go to the bathroom unless I find someone else to come in for a couple minutes. Sheesh...I am definitely sick of planning school parties. Please just give me a normal week! =P

Oh my goodness! I just found out that Aurora's baby was born over the weekend too!!! He was three weeks early, but healthy baby Yeray was born on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 7:30pm -- he weighed 7lbs. 3oz. and was 19 inches long. So many babies! I can't wait to meet Yeray, too!

I got to peek in at Kylie on Friday night!!! David brought her downstairs when I dropped off a casserole for them after work. She's soooo small and soooo cute, especially when David's holding her and kissing her little face. They also sent some pictures to the RUF list, and I keep looking at them because they make me so happy! I love the one where Mindi's holding her and Kylie is sticking out her tongue really far -- apparently this is the "signal" that she's ready to eat. Heehee!

David and Mindi welcomed Lauren Kylie Jones into the world on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 10:10am and 10 seconds (their "perfect 10" - how cute!)!!!!! Kylie weighed 6lbs. 14oz. and was 19½ inches long. David's email said, "Little Kylie has dark hair, the sweetest face, and is a good eater (just like her Daddy)." Heehee!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! :-D I can't wait to meet her!

Praise God for little Kylie!!! :) :) :)

Kids are hilarious...

Eric: *hands Linda a paper crown*
Linda: Thanks, Eric!
Mia: Eric! That's supposed to be for the surprise!
Linda: Well, I was surprised! I really like it - thanks, Eric.
Eric: It's a birthday crown.
Mia: ERIC!! It's supposed to be a SURPRISE!
Linda: Well, I know it's my birthday.
Mia: *jaw drops* You KNEW???
Linda: Yeah - my husband called me to say happy birthday, too.
Mia: Oh, so you knew because your husband called to tell you it's your birthday?

Hahahahaha. There was more, but I can't remember it all. The Kindergarteners are so cute. :)

There are so many birthdays/holidays/celebrations/field trips this month, it's crazy! Just in the past two weeks, we've had the 100th day of school, Chinese New Year, Jaime's birthday, Aurora's baby shower, the Monterey Bay Aquarium field trip, and Linda's birthday. Then this Friday is Addie's birthday, next Monday is the "Pinocchio" field trip, next Tuesday is Valentine's Day, and the Monday after that is President's Day (yay for a day off!). Phew!

I'm also dyyyyyyyyyyying to knowwwwwwwwwww about someone else's birthday!!!!! Mindi went into labor yesterday (we found out at RUF because they weren't there), and I've been so excited that I'm having a hard time concentrating on other things!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh...

From January 26, 2006...

100 Tissue-Paper Flowers, by Monica (Grade 2)	100 Arrows, by Pierre (Kindergarten)
100 Pieces of Pasta, by Samuel (Grade 1)	100 Chocolate Chips, by Rosemary (Grade 2)
100-Lego Statue of Liberty, by Daniel (Grade 2)	100 Igloo, by Oren (Grade 3)
100-Lego 777 Landing, by Paul (Grade 3)	100 Wordsearch, by Billy (Grade 3)
100 Flag, by Thatcher (Grade 3)	100 Snail, by Addison (Grade 1)

And the festivities of the day...

Which jar has 100 pennies? (What do *you* think?)	100 Coin Flips: Heads or Tails?
100-Piece Mosaics	100-Box Name Plate
100-Cheerio Necklaces	Mia and Eric and their cheerios (Don't do it, Mia!)
Who can roll a ball *exactly* 100 inches?	The results, all over the classroom...