Katie: The Life and Times in Hollywood

Hi Everyone ~

Well we are officially in our new place - have been for the past two weeks.  Well - how do I like you it you ask?  Let me tell you....

Driving:

I don't think I'll ever get used to the streets and highways.  If it wasn't for my Navigator on my phone I would be forever lost.  I feel confused on the streets all the time.  And if that wasn't bad enough.....I have discovered my horn.  First time yesterday - I, Katie laid on my horn to let the person in front of me know that they were and idiot.  Oddly it felt good.  However, I don't drive very often.  As a matter of fact for the first week I didn't move my car.  That is when I discovered "Public Transportation".  Which leads us to our next subject....

Public Transportation or as I like to call it T.P. (whoops that stands for toilet paper....silly me I meant P.T.):

I tried people....really I did.  The first time we wanted to go to the beach we decided we would take the Metro.  Needless to say I won't be doing that in the near future again!!!  We got on this subway like train and rode for over an hour.....we went the wrong way.  However, I did get my first look of Compton.  It's interesting......just as interesting as the people on the train with us.  Without going into too much detail, I can honestly say during our little trip (as if the train wasn't bad enough), we walked about 5 miles - I was over it....and to add to my little "experience" the next day I woke up and my eyelid was SWOLLEN!!  I looked like Sloth from Goonies....you know Chunk's friend.  

But I didn't give up on P.T. - no not yet.  You may call me a glutton for punishment.  The next day we decided we would make it to our beach so we hopped on the bus line.  That was a little bit better.  However, the bus line dropped us off about 1 mile away from the pier and Chris was hungry - so we walked a mile there and back.  Hung out at the beach - got our asses kick by these enormous waves and went back to find our bus.  We couldn't find the bus line we wanted and ended up walking about 3 miles until we found it.  My ankles hurt....and I was done with P.T.

Laundry:

I had my first opportunity to do laundry in our little "facility" downstairs.  I have one word - BORING!!!  That my friends is why people own a washer and dryer.  So they aren't bored out of their mind waiting for their $1.25 to stop washing and their $1.00 to stop drying.  Of course they don't have seating down there so I had to bring my little lawn chair.  I tried to read while waiting (I'm reading Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West) but after about 20 minutes I had a headache and stopped.  At that point all I could do is wait.......

Mack:

I'm still trying to decide if my dog likes this place.  Poor guys is suffering horribly from allergies, gut rot and indigestion.  Passes gas like nobody's business.....and has these horrible welts all over from scratching.  I finally gave him a bath tonight to help ease the allergies. 

Mosquitoes:

I'm covered in bites....enough said.

Sirens:

We hear these damn things day and night.  No longer need an alarm clock as I can be certain a siren will wake me up in the morning.  Now don't get me wrong - I understand I live downtown in probably one of the biggest tourist / wantabee actor place in the world.  Thousands of people probably walk down Sunset Blvd. everyday.  And with people come crime and hence sirens.  I can now tune them out.....except in the a.m. when they wake me....and in the p.m. when they tell me to go to bed. 

Pros:

Don't take any of what I said as negatives.  It's a different place - I just need to get used to it.  But here are some pros of this place:

• architecture around here - it's amazing
• the beach - hello - this I could get used to
• this place is busy all the time - it's nice in it's own way
• trash chute - right outside our door - now that is cool
• everything is close by - I walk to the grocery store
• Chris and I own a fridge (our apt. didn't come with one) we were able to buy a very nice used one for $50 - best deal in my life (not having a fridge for the 1st week here is a story in itself - let me just say it's nice to have one)

Well that is it for now.....I hear my evening siren.  Time for me to go to bed.

Love,

Katie

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - the countdown has begun

Hello Everybody ~

Well, I have officially began my countdown. Those of you who know me quite well from my other jobs (Robert and Diane) probably remember my countdown with my paperclips, right? You know, when I put the number of paperclips in a chain counting down the days to my last day as a Catering mgr.....

Well, it's begun again. This time it's not as fancy as a paperclip chain - it's just a number written on the whiteboard in my bedroom but it's still a countdown.

You are probably asking countdown for what???? Until I move - duh!

Yes - it is official. Chris and I are packing up and moving to Los Angeles. Or as I like to call it - HOLLYWOOD!! Our official address is Los Angeles but I could put Hollywood because I've seen it written that way too. Hollywood is so much more.......Hollywoodish! :-) We move into our new apartment on Monday. The dog (which they know about) and cats (which they don't) will follow us on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I had to laugh when I saw this picture......isn't it the truth?

Anyway, over the past week I have been packing. Well sort of. I'm not really good at sitting down and packing so I've been more like sitting at the computer for an hour or two (I redid my classroom webpage - check it out www.msjensenclass.com) and than I would go and throw some things in a box.....wander back to the computer do some more stuff on that. Go back throw some more things in a box and so on.

However, considering the fact that Chris and I are on a budget and the only thing I get to eat nowadays is noodles what more could you expect from me? I'm weak from hunger. :-) Okay not really but you could imagine, right?

What could I possibly be doing on a computer for hours a day??? I don't know either....stuff I guess. About 3 in the afternoon I would decide I would shower for the day. But as bored as I may get sometimes, you really can't beat having this much time off. Not that I don't deserve it. I worked my butt off during the school year - heck I could have set up a cot in my classroom.

Speaking of classroom, get a load of this. The other day I'm on the phone (with you mom) and I see a couple kids out by my car. Now this wasn't hard to see because my car is the only one in the lot because everyone else works during the day. (ha ha ha) I'm watching these kids by my car wondering what could they possibly be doing. As they walked away, I recognized one of them from Amy's class. Later that night I discovered what they were doing.......

That little jerk wrote "F U" on my car window. What the hell did I do to him to deserve this disrespect???? He's lucky I haven't seen him yet because I am going to talk to him. Perhaps, I'll say I was watching the video tape in my camera that is set up on my car and have footage of him vandalizing it (okay - I know writing in the dust on my car isn't vandalism but it sounds so much more serious - work with me people). What a little punk though!!! And for him to point out the obvious that I need to wash my car - arghh I don't know what makes me more upset!! I should make him wash it.....hmmmmm I wonder if we have a hose around the complex.

Well I better go to bed....big day tomorrow. You know throwing stuff in a box, sitting on the computer, wandering around the house, reading books, going back to the computer. Yes, a VERY big day.

Good night and have a great day at work tomorrow!!!

Katie

Pencils and scissors and chairs - oh my!! - Welcome to Hollywood!!!

Well today ended my career at my current school. I look back upon the year and wonder how I made it through it (or how a certain student did!). My time ended my favorite student yesterday when his mom picked him up early to take him to a doctor’s appointment because he hears “voices” in his head. Interesting….enough said – if that doesn’t give you a picture of what I had to deal with nothing will.

I endured pencils being thrown at me. Pads of paper too. Scissors and of course a chair being hurled in the classroom. Apparently, I pissed him off. I think he even thought of throwing my glass vase that holds my bamboo sticks. Now that would have pissed me off and than where would we have been? Another student in my class got fed up with him too one day and told him to “shut up and sit down” but that didn’t go over well. He had a chair thrown at him too. Thankfully no one was hurt and a certain student earned himself an “A” in my class. Ha ha ha. But that is all over now. Thank goodness.

However, I can't believe the school year is over - where the hell did the time go????? It seems just like yesterday that I was trying to get my body adjusted to waking up early after spending an entire summer staying up until 5:00am and sleeping until 1:00 or 2:00pm. Now, I'm sitting at my computer and it's only 9:30pm and I'm exhusted!!! What to do??

I am now about to embark upon a new journey. Chris and I are moving to Hollywood, CA in about three weeks. Chris has finished his degree in video and production and oddly enough L.A. seems to be the place where all the jobs are. Figure that out. Reminds me of a quote from Pretty Woman.

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!!! Hey, what's your dream. Hey mister. Everybody comes here....this is HOLLYWOOD. Land of dreams. Some dreams come true and some don't. But keep on dreaming because this Hollywood. Always time for dreaming so keep on dreaming.

I of course was mentally preparing myself for a year of possibly not teaching since California has some requirement different from AZ to get a teaching certificate (hmmmmm....was that my Hollywood dream???). But after being fingerprinted four times (and $250 later for all four times) I am officially hired at a school out there. Now - you would think that our wonderful FBI would have shared my first set of fingerprints but that is not the case. Hence - I have four sets. How many do you have??? Without even waiting for you to declare your number, I'm goint to say I win!!

I will be teaching 4th grade at a private school where all the kids are working a grade level ahead. So really, I’ll be teaching 5th grade stuff. Whoo hoo!!! I wonder - what is it like to work with kids who are a grade level ahead?? Who knew these types of kids existed?!? Amy at work calls it the "dream job". Uh oh - another reference to dreams!!!

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!!! Hey, what's your dream. Hey mister. Everybody comes here....this is HOLLYWOOD. Land of dreams. Some dreams come true and some don't. But keep on dreaming because this Hollywood. Always time for dreaming so keep on dreaming.

Too be honest, I’m really excited about it. I think it will be a nice change. I’m a little burned out (I know it’s only been two years!!!) on public schools. Plus, this principal and I seem to have the same view on many issues. We both had the rose colored glasses ripped off our face and see what we need to do for our students in order to provide them with a quote (as she said it) a "quality education".

I’ll miss my current team – they were great. You should see the gift basket they put together for me. It’s a picnic basket and they loaded it with gear for the beach, plus two bottles of wine (now I could have used that DURING the school year), and a very generous gift card to Disneyland. Not too mention, they took into consideration that my new apartment won’t have a washer/dryer and they gave me a roll of quarters marked “laundry”. J A parent took a nice group photo of the five us and game me a large framed picture. Good memories.

That is pretty much it. Not that much else going on – unless you take into consideration that my dog’s butt is swollen but I won’t get into that right now (besides I really can’t tell you why – just another Mack issue with no rhythm or reason).

Hope all is well with all of you!

Love,

Katie

Secrets....

Trying is failing with honor.

So I find myself asking….what is the “secret”? I’m not sure if any of you have seen the DVD entitled “The Secret”. But supposedly Oprah is raving about it. Not that whatever Oprah says gets me thinking because to be quite honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than 15 minutes of her show….and that is probably stretching it. But I know people who LOVE her. So one needs to stop and wonder, what makes this millionaire woman so magnetic and is this “secret” stuff real?

So I went to the website and I’m reading all the testimonials on it and even watched the trailer. Hmmmmmm…..maybe I’ll check the book out.

But on another note, I’ll share with you a secret thought I had the other day. There was a student that I thought about taking my hand receiver to the phone in my room and knocking him on the head. Now, before you stop and start to criticize me and wonder who can you call to have my teaching credentials revoked you need to listen to the story.

We have this student….I’ll call him Trevor, who has been very hard to handle. Trevor has had a history of being difficult and even this year was sent away for a few weeks to an alternative school to work on building character traits. Anyway, he’s come back from that alternative school and has had a couple good days…but mostly he hasn’t changed. So, we have a discipline program in place at school and Step 4 is where the student goes to another classroom to fill out a slip about their behavior and make an action plan on what they plan on doing to change it.

Well my students and I are busy scribbling our daily thoughts into our Writer’s Notebook when my side door opens and I hear Trevor talking back to Amy. Telling her things such as “I don’t like you”, “You’re an awful teacher”, “You don’t know what your doing”, and “I’m not listening to you…la la la la”.

So she brings him in and I tell him to sit in the refocus desk and he makes a face at me. I ignore it and continue working. When Amy brings in the slip, I take it over to him to have him start filling it out. Every time I tried to put it in front of him he would move his hands so I couldn’t. After telling him to stop once (I’m not in the mood for his games), I pick up the phone to call the office because his actions have moved him to Step 5 which is Office Referral. I dial the number to the office and watch Trevor reach up with his pencil and push the disconnect button. Mind you, it felt as if it were happening in slow motion. I saw him raising the pencil and turning his mocking grin to me and slowly push the button. I couldn’t believe it…..I truly was wondering if this kid was for real.

So I take the pencil away, cover the button and call again and ask the office to send someone down to get this child. While we are waiting, I am filling out the necessary forms (yes – there are always forms to fill out, no matter what job you are in) and a student tells me that Trevor has taken a push pin out of the wall and is rubbing it on the desk. I walk over and sure enough there are scratch marks all over the desk. Defacing school property – if this kid wasn’t already at step 5 he would have been then. So I tell Trevor to give me the push pin. And he sits there talking to me in his baby voice (literally – a baby voice). “Give you what? Give you what? Give you what?”

This goes on for about 30 seconds until the assistant principal comes and at that point Trevor throws the push pin on the floor and gets up and starts walking to the door. I say “Trevor, pick that up now”. And he ignores me until the Assistant Principal tells him too. So get this – Trevor walks over and picks up the push pin and begins to push the pin into the live plant that I have on the desk. I am watching him do this, expecting the principal to say something. When he doesn’t, I manage to grind out and tell Trevor to stop and leave. He leaves but not without making me want to pick that phone up and bonk him on the head. Can you believe it?? Would you ever have done that?

I look at my class and they are just staring. At that point, I thank my stars that for the most part (except for my one bi-polar student who hasn’t acted up in quite some time (knock on wood)), that I truly have a great class and they would NEVER pull that stunt with me. NEVER. So now you know my secret….I guess it’s no longer a secret. I can almost guarantee my secret of wanting to bonk him on the head would have crossed your mind too.

Things I wonder……………..

What is the secret to being the world’s greatest teacher? I have this quote on my writer’s notebook….I wonder – can I? Will I?

Why is my cat Diego terrified of the balloon we have in the house? If I go near it, he runs.

Is Bella our other cat truly using the toilet secretly? Chris videotaped her once doing and we have reason to suspect she does it more often.

Why does Mack rub his nose on the floor and than his food bowl prior to eating, take one piece run into another room eat it and go back and it the rest? He does this all the time? It’s his before eating ritual but why?

Just some thoughts…

Love,

Katie

Fishbowls and surveys....

Wheh....I'm ready for bed. Another Monday has passed. I went to school - I was in a funky mood but lifted out of it by mid-morning. Thank goodness for the kids and me!

They can't stand when I'm in a weird mood. Who can blame them? Let's be honest....it's not a weird mood - it's a bad mood. Hell people it's Monday!!! Who isn't? I have a short temper. But for some reason they know how to pull me out of it.

First, let me start by saying I have young love blooming in my classroom. A young boy and girl in my class are dating. How do I know you ask? Well, I know because they are busy writing "I love so and so" in a flower they drew when they are supposed to be listening to me talk about adjectives!!! Geez kids, I have important things to say - listen up!!!

However, it makes me remember when I got married in 4th grade. I heard that the boy I got married to is in jail. I don't know why...I guess good thing we didn't make it. :-)

I also went biking today. I started mountain biking again on January 1. Let's just say it's a stress release for me. It's amazing that climbs that I use to think were impossible are now easy....and now I have new impossible climbs!!! :-)

Sheila, Jon and I went out for Happy Hour tonight (mom, you are welcome to join us next time!). We went to a new place. They sell these fish bowl drinks for $5.00. Sheila and I both got one. Jon got a sacci bomber...did I spell it right?

Needless to say, by the end of the night Sheila and I were ready to dance. But it's Monday...no weddings to crash. So now I am at home typing in my blog and dancing around to my MP3. Excuse me while I dance to Pussycat Dolls - Don't ya.

Don't ya wish your teacher was hot like me?
Don't yah wish yor teacher was a freak like me?

Sorry..... I love that song. I make a few minor adjustments and it's great.
I'm back. Whew-worked up a sweat. I need another fish bowl......

Maybe not. I need to go to bed. Have kids to teach the good word to tomorrow.

Mom - we are going again Wednesday evening....are you up for a fish bowl? Only five bucks and always a good time.

I'm part of this company that gives surveys and they pay you money after you earn so many points (no it's not a scam - I've actually recieved checks from them.) Anyway, their latest survey was about greeting cards. They asked how many I purchase per year....how many? Tons. Now how many do I actually get in the mail to the person I bought them for? That is the real question. I swear I could open up my own greeting card company. Looking for a card that wished a child a happy 5th birthday? I have one? How about a baptism card? I have one of those too! I still have the best card in the world that I meant to send out to my older brother. It's a skunk and when you open it, it makes a sound. It's the best card in the world. Mike, pretend you are suprised when you get it this year!!!

Well I need to go to bed to sleep off the fish bowl.

Love yah,

Katie