How awesome is this?? I got this from Erin, one of my book club members, and it is ultimately from YouTube. Rock on, 80s fans.
What a wonderful first day off! Today I woke up at 7, washed the car, went to the bank, mailed some items, and went to a paid workshop with a free breakfast and lunch. I spoke with many colleagues and got some ideas for the use of science notebooks in my classroom. I picked up Justin afterward and went to the home of some of his coworkers for burgers in their backyard gazebo. Such wonderful, hospitable, creative people! Sorry to leave so soon, we zoomed up to Seattle to pick up Leslie for our Intiman play, Richard III. She’s blogging about it at lesleymac.com, so I will spare you all of the details, but some awesome highlights and thoughts are here:
1) This is my first history play of Shakespeare, though I recognize history is used loosely here.
2) Conversations with Bart, the artistic director, are awesome. Not only do we get to see and hear what he and the actors are thinking about the play, we get free wine and appetizers (at 11:00 at night).
3)I would love to do a study based on last names in Anglo history to see how they correspond with current and past socioeconomic status.
That is all. I sleep now, and I fully intend on sleeping in tomorrow morning.
I am super-relieved. Graduation planning and the ceremony are over, teaching and lesson planning are over, and all I have left to do are my grades, which should be easy to complete tomorrow. Today, upon coming home, I read a magazine, called a couple of friends and my family, made some tea, and read outside in the sun. Ah, bliss at last! Upon returning from my bookclub tonight (we’re reading The Handmaid’s Tale), I plan to veg out to our new disc of Alias (Season II). I still have 7 days of “work,” but most of them are self-directed workshops or workdays, and I don’t have to be there at 7:15 a.m., but rather at a more sane time like 9. Plus I get hour-long lunches, paid parking, and a continental breakfast. The good life has begun, though I will miss my students. No, really!
Remember all of those “to do” items I posted related to grad school? Well, I am finished! I don’t have my actual diploma yet, but we went to commencement on Sunday and received our diploma covers (and a certificate for a free sweatshirt inside–which was the last thing on my mind while sitting in the blazing sun in black robes). This has been a wonderful week with milestones being reached and friends and family around to see us reach them.
Here are a few highlights:
- Mom, Dad and Aaron arrived Wednesday
- My students presented their Green Mapping findings on Wednesday at City Hall (and my fam met us there!)
- Our last grad class was Wednesday night and we turned in one of our projects
- We went out to dinner at Bahama Breeze Wednesday night
- The last of my seniors presented their projects Thursday night
- I took off Friday and we (Fam, lesleymac, and I) went to the EMP, had a picnic, and I bought everyone some bubble tea–it was their first experience with them
- Saturday morning, Justin, Mom, Dad, Aaron, and I attended a graduation brunch at Seattle U–there were over 700 people there!
- Saturday was Joanna’s 22nd birthday and we had an afternoon “party” with roses, lavender, fruit salad, and bruschetta with cream cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Justin’s parents and brother came into town on Saturday, so that evening we went out to Azteca for Mexican food with Lesley
- Sunday morning we had 14 people over for church and lunch–crazy!!
- We then spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out the “hoods” that go with our caps and gowns
- We left at 2 for graduation, lined up, sat in the sun and sweated, and did our walk-up-and-give-the-pres-a-handshake thang. Spoken like a woman with her Master’s, I know.
- After graduation, I was HUNGRY and THIRSTY. The Baeders and Grubbs went to Joanna’s restaurant and I shared a lobster-and-steak celebratory dinner with Mom.
- We then went for a walk by the lake for an hour or two
- Monday morning we bid adieu to Justin’s family at their Bellevue campground, then my fam came over. I then worked on my last grad project, went to the dentist, finished my project, and had dinner.
- I got a call that my good friend Andrea is back in town and so my fam, lesleymac, Justin, and I met up with her and her friend at Tutta Bella for espresso and desserts.
What a pleasant end to an eventful week! I still have items on my to-do list, but I’ll spare you the details today.
So I was browsing snopes.com in an effort to procrastinate. I found the section on true and false pictures that circulate on the internet. Apparently this one is true. Check it out and tell me that this is not one ticked off kitty. I mean, look at his face. I laughed for days.
I did it!! I wasn’t fast and I didn’t win (HA!), but I made it. I ran 13 miles today in a nice drizzle in the San Juans. My knees are quite sore and I need to be drinking more water (my headache says so). It feels like someone punched me repeatedly in my kidneys and other places in my body cavity. Other than that, I feel good and I didn’t get “side stitches” or anything.
The day before the race was heavenly–65F, sunny, warm-ish breezes. I napped, ate, walked, ate, read, and watched one CSI Miami and went to bed at 10. I RELAXED for one day this week–this month–this spring. I could really get used to this…but I have 2 more classes to wrap up for grad school, so I won’t celebrate too soon.
BTW, Lesley moved in with us today, so yay for a full house!
Picked up cap and gown today.
Finished portofolio check!
Passed comprehensive exams with flying colors!!
So 2 hours of sleep is apparently not enough for me. I should know because Justin and I got that much last night due to taking FOREVER on our grad school portfolio. In recent quarters, this process has taken 7-8 hours, but we spent about 12 hours on it this quarter (at least!). Today we show it to our professor to get it checked off, and tomorrow we present a book talk and our plans on assessment.
The one thing I am thankful for with these projects is that they are not cognitively DIFFICULT. I would be tearing my hair out if I had to actually THINK too deeply about data collection or theorems or some other rubbish at 3 a.m. Now all I am thinking about is sleeping….
Left to do for grad school:
finish narrative literature review
finish annotated bibliography
pick up caps and gowns
pay library fine ($3)
finish action research project
The hardest part is over!!
