long time no blog

this blog has been defunct for nearly 5 years. And really, ever since I moved to NY it was gasping for air. Instead of starting something new somewhere else. I'd like to start it here. I'm not sure what I'll write about -- maybe the daily adventures of me and my baby. Maybe nothing important. But I kind of liked finding this relic among the dust of old inboxes. I kind of liked remembering little highlights of my day years later when I uncovered it. So I'll tell you about some of the following things: my daydream about a taking (wholly invented) Family Sabatical free and cheap stuff I find to do with my baby in NYC food trips and adventures history, facts and new information reflections about my day my baby is in her crib right now blabbering to her stuffed puppy about her day -- i might as well blabber to you about mine.

IKEA shelter in the storm

Today was another rainy day with baby. I was worried that I wouldn't even be able to move the car for alternate side parking because there was so much thunder and lightning. I actually think a clamor of thunder woken Wilhelmina up from her nap, but after some snacks her spirits were high enough to brave the storm. 

We went to ikea. It was the perfect dry spot in a wet city. We ate lunch with the back drop of the skyline behind us and waved to everyone ( especially if they were wearing a hat). 

Going through the children's section there were all of the bins of stuffed animals that mostly I have overlooked in the past. I wasn't wil to meet each animal and then tell me which was her favorite.. To tell me definitely that there is something wants to communicate about who she is... But all I found out is she is a kid who likes stuffed animals and knows a few words. I also learned that it's kind of mean to show a baby tons of cool stuffed animals and then only buy her a couple 99cent mice. I also learned that she doesn't really care. 

I felt prepared and not rushed and enjoyed my time with her without worrying too much that everything was going rainfall apart. Overall-- pretty good day. 

Sunday Family Funday

Sunday Wil and Nic and I had breakfast around the house and played music and danced. Wil's favorite is "funky town" like she was born in the wrong era. Picture that baby with long labels and disco, platforms. She says "dancing" and puts both her arms up over her head and bounces. you probably wouldn't be able to tell she is saying "dancing" but we can tell. In the late morning, armed with PB&J, we put her in the stroller, hoping she'd fall asleep. We walked to the baby store and picked up a stainless steel sippy cup and I butted into a conversation about carseats. Aftwards we walked to Open Souce Galery where Cezar Del Valle, a local historian was giving a talk about Coney Island. He didn't mind too much that we were late because there were only three other people there. He was glad we doubled the audience, even if one of us was tiny and asleep. He told us about theaters and vaudville acts in coney island how Robert Moses hated it and tried to pass laws to close down the culture there. He had a slide show and drank some coffee out of a really pretty tea cup while he talked. Afterward we walked to the playground across the street, and when Wil was ready for a break, we walked up the hill to the beer garden. Our friends and their baby met us there. We ordered food, and beer and took turns chasing the toddlers around. On the way home for dinner and bedtime, we saw a steve keene painting left on the street. We carried it home talking about where we'd hang it. The only thing we missed out on wasa FREE slurpee at 7-11 on 7/11. Boy were we kicking ourselves afterward. Monday, I met Wil's friend Mac and his mom at the Zoo. We walked there, through Prospect Park. We met a new baby and mom and dog on the way, saw a waterfall and ate some peanut butter and watermellon. Along our long trek home We met up with babyfriend, Nora and had a little dance party in the park. I'm pretty sure Wil said "MINE" and grabbed back her snack cup. She wore a blue dress with vibrant hot air balloons on it. Wil tasted a Frosty, which was probably her favorite part of our adventure. Sometimes I feel pride in relation to how much dirt Nic has to scrub off the baby at bathtime.

maybe in that wanting there is some hope

The school year has come to an end. The students are currently taking an online exam that is supposed to tell me if their reading level has improved. Most of them went down since January. Is it possible that I actually made them worse at reading? The June tests, from my experience, are always lower than those in the beginning or middle of the school year. If I hate sitting in this quiet room, I'm sure they do, too. It makes me wonder about the Regents exams. Are there generally higher scores on the January exams than the June ones? Do these tests show us anything real or actual anyway?

The evaluation we had them fill out on the last day of classs probably told me more about what they learned this year. When we asked them what they learned they said: "class can be fun and you can still learn" , "college is hard", "you have to do your homework to get a good grade", "essays!!!" Maybe we taught more writing than reading, maybe that's why these online tests are showing lower scores. Maybe they're just tired.

A student plagerized the last paper of the year. When he wrote the word "superficiality" it was a pretty big red flag. After googling it, I found several sentences of his paper from sparksnotes online. I felt really angry and somehow hurt by this. I was suprised by hwo much I cared about this plagerism. First I felt angry that this child made such little effort to hide his cheating, I feel like it was almost an insult about how stupid he thought I was. And then, I was angry that I had worked with him so much this year and encouraged him so much and now I didn't think he was ready for the 10th grade. And after that, I felt terribly sad for him. To him, the idea of actually writing a paper was as abstract as writing some publishible work that uses the word "superficiality" -- they were both so far removed from what he felt capable of that they were the same. He couldn't do it and he cheated and lied to cover it up, he wasn't good at cheating and lying because he wasn't even sure what it was supposed to look like. That made me feel like a terrible teacher, one that never met this kid where he was at and was never able to give him what he needed to succeed. I had what I thought was a great year, where I was happy and, I thought, successful and then suddenly I wasn't so sure about myself. And after all of that, I felt proud of him. This is a little strange, but he is the sort of student who never tried before, never want to get a good grade, never wanted to please his teacher and in the past he would have just scoffed at the assignment and not have handed it in. So, I was a little proud of him for making that step toward being a student -- yeah, he did it all wrong, yeah he will get a zero, but maybe in that wanting there is some hope.

Since the last time I posted, I bought an apartment and got married. new name, same game.

Shouting Out Requests and Turning the House Upside Down

Last night I had a dream that took place underwater. Also, there was a chase scene.

This weekend I saw my cousin play music in a bar on Houston street and was surprised and delighted that so many of his friends from college all came out to see him. A lot of them drove for hours to shout the name of one song over and over again. Two Stories, Two Stories! TWO stories!!! I didn't know what they were going to do once he finally sang it. What does one shout now that they've played the song you were so loudly requesting?

I kind of feel that way in life, I guess. Nic and I are both shouting WEDDING! HOUSE! Wedding! HOUSE! and through the loudness of it, it will be hard to imagine what it will be like once our song is played. What will we be shouting for.

We turned the house upside down looking for my w2s from last year. I probably placed it carefully in between the pages of a long -forgotten book to mark my place, or just as likely I tore it up into tiny pieces and baked it into a pie. Who knows. I lost my wallet recently (stress related, you think_ and well ...wait, i should tell you that I'm fairly sure that the way i lost my wallet is that . OK. this is one of those things, that just makes sense if you know me. no. wait. this sort of thing doesn't make sense at all . OK, i think i put my wallet in someone Else's coat pocket. yup. just slipped it right in there. I distinctly remember bowling, and thinking, my goodness, I'm going to loose this wily wallet if i don't put it somewhere safe -- so i placed it in my coat hanging up on the hook. At the end of the night, when it was time to find my coat, it was no where near that hanging up coat, it wasn't even hanging up. So, it's true. it would be a crime if i was pick-pocketed, but no...I put-pocketed it. Think of that surprised stranger though. boy did I get them.
Anyway, i needed to find my passport to have some id after this whole wallet debacle and i searched the apartment high and low for that, too. ( are you getting the impression that i might be disorganized or stressed?) and after several days, and an impromptu trip to Baltimore, I found it in some old purse. Today I checked that same old purse, just in case my w2 might have found its way in there.

Wouldn't it be great if you just had a bag in your house where lost things showed up?
that sock
that earring back
the remote
your keys
all the entries of this blog i didn't keep up with.

long time no post

Jamie's 30th birthday on the roof of Russell's apartment had the most incredible view. We lighted the roof with tap lights and did a synchronized dance all wearing matching t-shirts with James' face on them. It was pretty awesome.

So far Nic and I have set a date to get married -- May 29 2010. We plan to get married at the old stone house in Brooklyn.

Teaching is hard...as usual...I guess. Something about spring is exhausting or rather teachers are exhausted by the time spring rolls around. (mmm spring rolls.) At school everyone is sniffling and hoping they won't get swine flu, but we probably already all have it. Oh! which reminds me, "WHAT DO YOU GIVE A SICK PIG?"

Give up?
"OINKMENT"

Epidemics with funny names make for good blog entries. And thank goodness. It's difficult to come back after so long.

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