Jesusfreak

Hehe nice. I'm up at camp now. As you can see, we do have internet, sort of. We have camp-wide wireless satellite internet that doesn't really work when it rains (or if you look at it the wrong way), and has very limited bandwidth. But, it's enough to check up on things and send IMs, so it's better than nothing by far. Also, done with Walmart! It seems like they'll take me back in the fall if I can't get a better job, which is good.

I too was stuck working.

I started keeping things on power strips so I could shut them all off at once, and it does make a big difference - about $20 off my electric bill.

Oooh, good call, I hadn't thought of that! I'll still be stopping down here during some of my weekends though, and other people might be spending the night in the house while I'm gone. So, I guess it'll depend on just how much use the house will get.

I haven't heard anything from the letter I wrote, and probably won't, but I guess it was worth a try. In better news, I have only one week left at Walmart! Oddly enough, they gave me a full 40 hours this week. So, I have to clean up the house and finish getting my supply lists together now.

I'm still upset. And confused. The interview and the phone call I made seemed so positive, I'm really baffled as to why they didn't have me teach a sample lesson. The only things I can think of was that maybe I was the first person they interviewed, or that maybe they ran across someone who doesn't like me. I think I might write a letter asking what happened, to see if there's anything I can fix.

Bleh, after all of my calling and a couple emails, I got what is essentially a rejection letter from that charter school today. I HATE being lead on like that, so I'm pretty upset.

*hums the Jeopardy theme* We planted a few different types of herb seeds. Apparently oregano and marjoram seeds are really tiny. Like grains of sand tiny. Coming back to work last night, I found out there are a whole bunch of idiotic rumors going around about my friends. They're so stupid, they're almost funny, but they are potentially damaging if someone's dumb enough to believe them. And also lots of boy drama, which isn't all unrelated. The more my friends talk about their lives and relationships, the more I love my own. But yeah, sometimes it's nice to have a reputation as "the innocent one," even if it's a somewhat false assumption. (I know more than people think I do, even if I don't partake in so many *ahem* questionable activities. So innocent in actions, perhaps, but not in knowledge.) Also, it suddenly got very toasty here in NJ. It's over 80 degrees, and it's been in the 60's all week.

Welp, still no word from the school. This weekend was the spring kickoff at camp, which was fun. I got to run an activity where kids decorated flower pots and planted seeds in them. Also went shopping with mom on Saturday, which was nice. Aside from that, nothing really new.

I called early today, left a voicemail, still didn't get a phone call back. This is getting old.

Blegh, I'm sick. Some sort of allergies-turned-sinus infection type thing. In the interest of resting and not sounding like a stuffed up mess, I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to call the school.

Still no phone call, so I guess I have to call them again on Monday.

Oh gosh, I just noticed this topic. *hugs*

Wow, that's quite a view!

Well, I would give people the choice to view it or not, not post it on billboards or something. In other news, I called the charter school today (as instructed), and actually ended up getting ahold of the principal who interviewed me. He said he remembered me, and said to give HR another week to call me, because they are calling so many people. So, the fact that he remembered me is good, and hopefully calling him will keep me in his mind for later. I have, however, applied to a ton of other teaching positions, so hopefully I'll get one of them if this one doesn't work out.

People would regard him as a martyr and get angry regardless. I would not want to see the pictures either, but I think they shouldn't be kept so secret either. I think that there are ways to release the photos and still be tasteful about it, and not make it into a huge spectacle.

Hehe that reminds me of one time when we had a party at my house, and my sister's friend found out that Ian (remember Ian?) speaks Hebrew. Said friend started spouting Hebrew-sounding gibberish, and accidentally ended up saying, "we are the cheese," or something to that effect.

Heh, yeah, it would be pretty easy to photoshop pictures of Bin Laden, though I think the pictures should have been released to anyone who wanted to see them, just as a form of closure to the people most affected. I don't think it would make the terrorists much more angry than they already are. I still haven't gotten any solid word from the school I interviewed at. I did call twice, Wednesday and Thursday, and they said to call back early Monday if I didn't hear anything. I had been discouraged that it was taking so long, but then I remembered that it's a new school, so they probably have a TON of people to call back and schedule interviews for, so it makes sense that it's taking longer than normal. I have, however, been applying to other jobs just in case, and plan to continue doing so until I get an actual job offer.

Chinese is just a tough language with all the inflections you need to learn. The same word with a different inflection means the difference between calling someone a mother, or a horse. So yeah, that's not just you. It makes sense though, about knowing a few words in the language. Americans have a pretty bad stereotype in most other countries.

Now I'm curious, how many languages do you speak, and how do you get around in countries where you don't speak the language?

Well, telling my manager I'm leaving was much more painless than expected. Now I need to get all those doctor appointments over with as fast as possible before my insurance goes away. In other news, Bin Laden is finally dead! Of course, some other jerk will likely replace him, but it's still good news.

The science teaching job is in northern NJ. I'd rather not mention the specific area in case any future students come across this. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon about teaching my sample lesson. The camp job is a go, and they'll be paying me more than Walmart - enough to pay my bills! I'm not looking forward to telling my managers, especially since I have to request off a bunch of days for orientations and training. >_< But, the camp job will be a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work and experience for teaching. The camp ends mid-August, which should be plenty of time to take on the teaching position (the camp hires lots of teachers, so I assume that they are sensitive to this type of thing anyways). As for the letter I wrote my manager, I always write things to the point (unless I have a page requirement to fill ), and I ran it past Shane to make sure it made sense. I had my yearly evaluation (early, but whatever) a few days ago, and one of the things that was mentioned was that I am good at communicating effectively and professionally, or something like that.

That's so funny, my sister is headed to NZ today to visit her boyfriend! Be careful in Auckland, that's where my sister lost half the stuff she owns because her car got stolen, with everything in it. >_<

Oh right - follow up to that letter I wrote to my manager: in the letter, I wrote at the end what things I was good at and enjoyed doing. Last night, he had me working on some projects to condense all the Easter stuff, and fill in new features and the like. (I had mentioned that I like working on projects and features and such; pretty much anything that makes me think.) For once he was actually happy with what I got done (I'm good at fitting a lot of stuff into small spaces, which is what he wanted me to do, and I was able to get rid of a pallet of ramen, half a pallet of pasta sides, and the remains of a pallet of ketchup, all of which have been dragged out to the floor and sent back for the past several nights). He said that tonight he has another project for me to work on, so I'm happy about that. Working on projects is much more interesting than just throwing things on shelves. At any rate, it is very refreshing to know that my manager took what I said seriously.

The interview yesterday went really well. The principal kept saying how impressed he was with me (apparently largely in part because my Praxis scores were the highest anyone's come in to interview with, and my grades were good), and seemed to really like all my answers to his questions. He said that the next step for me is to come in to teach a sample lesson. The school itself seems really awesome. I'd be teaching 4th and 5th grade science in a new charter school that's opening next year (it will be a sister school of the one I interviewed at). Both schools place a large emphasis on science and art, as well as technology (I was told SmartBoards, ipods, and laptops). The school seems like an awesome place for me. I found it interesting that he told me what the starting salary would be - something that generally doesn't happen on a first interview (and salary in question is much higher than I expected, and will enable me to comfortably pay my bills, and still have money left over to save). I also noticed that a very large percentage of the teachers in the school were young. So, I'm very excited about possibly getting this job. Today I had an interview at a much closer town for a high school subbing position, which went pretty well. I was interviewed by the vice principal, who said that though he's slightly reserved about my lack of experience with older kids, he thinks I'd be a good candidate. So, we'll see where that goes. I also got the email today to go up to meet with the program coordinator at that camp I interviewed at last Friday, so it looks like I'm going to be up at camp again this weekend. I hope I get the jobs I interviewed for, because all this driving to NY with these gas prices is going to make me go broke pretty fast.