everybody to the limit!

Current Location: moreno valley, ca
Current Mood: chipper

Well howdy doo to you all!  Its been a long time since Ive posted anything, and a whole heck of a lot has happened since.  This blog will be abnormally large since I want to go back a ways over the past month, and Im mainly keeping the record for myself but I would be tickled silly if anyone else reads it.  I am currently at my new apartment in sunny Moreno Valley, California (just moved here on Friday) and am eagerly awaiting my new job.  I found out today that instead of teaching 7^th grade life science, that I have been switched to teaching 6^th grade math and science.  I love the 6^th grade switch, but I dont know how I feel about teaching math.  Ive never been a huge math person, but Im hoping that good old D-ball prepared me for whatever those snot-nosed rascals have in store for me.  I checked out my classroom today, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of space Im going to have.  I dont really have any furniture yet though, so well see how it fills up.  Im sure that Ill have at least 30 kids in each of my classes, so it might get a little tight.  Its a very nice looking classroom though, air conditioned, with TV/VCR, overhead, computer, and white board instead of a chalkboard (which I am THRILLED about).  I talked to a very nice veteran teacher who will be teaching language arts and social studies to the same students, and she gave me some good tips on getting started.  I have new teacher orientation this coming Thursday and Friday, and then school officially starts next Wednesday the 16^th.  Ill have to completely have everything setup by then, so Im going to be plenty busy.  Im uber excited though. 

Moreno Valley is amazing so far.  We basically live within a 1 mile radius of everything anyone could possibly ever want or need:  Target, a mall, fine dining and fast food, grocery stores, movie theaters, Best Buy/Circuit City, and tons more.  Most of is only a couple of years old too, so everything looks very pretty and clean among the palm trees and desert landscape.  Our 2-bedroom apartment is extremely luxurious and spacious, and the complex has a full sized Olympic pool, amazingly big workout facility, conference room, DVD movie theater room, and more.  The city itself is nestled between some big brown mountains, which Im guessing is where the name Moreno (brown in Spanish) came from.  Im also very much enjoying the diversity of the place.  Its predominantly Latino, but there are people from all different wakes of life, and they all seem extraordinarily friendly.  I spent almost an entire day at the mall the other day, and I didnt throw up once!  That really says something, because I normally despise malls.  The people watching was great. 

Megs and I have decided to call it quits.  Were still living together, but with the stress of the move and a huge buildup of negativity, weve decided its best that we just try and be friends.  Its been a tough relationship, with lots of ups, but the downs have just seemed to dominate over the past few months, and it seems like theres not much either of us can do to change that.  Hopefully, things will work out for the best. 

Landen (Megs friend) followed us all the way out here to Cali with hopes of making it big in LA as a comedian.  Hes been with us for the past week and a half of traveling/settling, but he left today to find a place in Santa Monica and decided to stay with a friend in Hollywood, which is much closer for him anyway.  It was great having him as much-needed comic relief and support.  I wish him the very best with his apartment search and in getting his brilliant comedic foot in the door as soon as possible.  I know hes going to go far.  Remember the name, Landen Celano, people

It felt so good to finish up my ESL classes.  I am now completely DONE with grad school, and I have an additional ESL endorsement which will come in very handy.  I also finally sold my car to a very nice gal from Novi.  I hope it works well for her.

My last week or so in Ypsi/A2 was extremely memorable, and I couldnt have asked for any better times.  Thank you all SO MUCH for being the amazing friends that you are.  I miss you all already.  Im going to first do some rewinding back to the night of July 15^th, where I had my going away weekend romp through Kalamazoo.  I was able to spend some quality time and drink some tasty brews at the Kraftbrau and Green Top with such lovely people as:  Casey, Dave W and his wife Steph, Amy, Pat S, and Nate K.  It was extremely awesome to see each of them, and it was a very memorable night.  I also saw my good friend Brady the next day, who I hadnt seen in way too long, for a special Sunday breakfast with the fam.  Afterward, I had an hour or so to kill so I went out to good old VBYC for a bit, and saw some people I hadnt seen in awhile and reminisced with nature.  Also said goodbye to my sister, whos a kitchen girl this summer, and wished her the best.  Im kind of bummed that were not going to be living in the same town again.  It was pretty sweet having her around last year, and I feel like weve gotten a lot closer than we ever have.  I seriously am going to fly her out here if I can put the funds together.  She has to see this.  Next, I said goodbye to my family for the last time, which was a whole heck of a lot harder than I thought it would be.  They have been so amazing and supportive with all of these huge decisions I have been making.  I couldnt love them more.

July 24 The last night of the Lock Robster at Blind Pig karaoke.  It was one of the hardest nights of my life.  That place is seriously my home away from home, and is one of the few places in the world where I feel the most comfortable and the most me (the other one being VBYC).  I already miss the place and the people.  I invited pretty much everyone I knew or could get ahold of, and then the magical night was off and running.  Beforehand, Allison and I hit up ABC (my favorite brewery) one last time for some delicious happy hour brews.  For my opener, I finally got around to doing Dirty White Boy by Foreigner, which I had been wanting to do for months, and got the place rocking quite well.  Next, Brynne and I did what was easily the best Roxette either of us have ever done with an amazing rendition of The Look.  That one felt really really good for some reason.  Then I sang my favorite karaoke song, Footloose by myself by the one and only Kenny Loggins, dancing and sweating my goofy ass off while rocking out like a mo-fo.  Next, Allison and I got things groovin with an astounding version of Good Vibrations by none other than Marky Mark and his funky bunch.  I sang the big black woman backup vocals while Allison attempted one handed pushups.  Quite hilarious.  Finally, for my last performance on the Blind Pig stage, Katey and myself kicked out Rock Lobster (a very appropriate last ditty) by the B52s, which was excellent and a barrel of fun.  I was a little TOd by the fact that Landen and I didnt have time to bust out Bohemian Rhapsody, but there will be plenty of time for that out here in Cali.  It truly was a magical and drunken evening.  I also got to see a crap-ton of people I hadnt seen in quite some time, which was super. 

July 27 The last night of 80s Schmeightys glory at 80s Trivia Night @ Aubrees in Ypsi.  It was a very fun night, as Marina joined our typical team of Landen, Megs, and myself, but we just werent able to pull out all the stops, and we ended up taking 2^nd place.  We had a damn good run, though, with ~5 solid straight wins.  I have a feeling that someplace, somewhere, 80s Schmeightys will rise again, just like a phoenix or something.

July 28 My good old karaoke soulmate, Carries 22^nd birthday.  I hadnt seen this girl in ages, and just randomly found out she was throwing this huge kegger with live bands out near Kerrytown.  It ended up being a very fun night, with her mini-bottles of rum/vodka/other hard stuff strapped to her like those bullet belts.  Allison and I bought 40s, mingled, and I met the original writer/artist of Vampirella (a comic from the mid 90s of this half-naked and hot vampire chick).  He was a very interesting fella, but something must have happened because I think hes homeless now.  He has a very scraggly beard and carries this huge bag, proving he is who he is.  Very interesting guy.  Very interesting night.

July 29 German Park/Ozs.  Another very fun evening and night.  Allison and Tabitha, Brynne and Julie, and Les, Rudy, and his cousin, all accompanied me to German Park for some good old German grub and glug glug.  It was extremely tasty, as usual, with the spatzen, potatoes, knockwursts, and always intoxicating Optimator.  I also picked up a new hobby, which is photographing old people dancing.  Its just so gosh darn cute, and theyre having so much fun.  Its really great to capture them in the moment.  I can only hope to be as happy and mobile when Im that old.  I also saw my old friend Ray there, who I worked with at preschool and is one helluva guy.  Later that night, I joined back up with Les and her posse at Oz, a place I had never been.  It was quite cool, I really liked the setup, and I got my dancing groove thang on for a bit with the help of some delicious White Russians.  I took a ton of amazing pics with Les showing what she does best, and I was extremely glad that I got to dance with her one last time before I left.  After awhile, since it had been such a long day, I started getting pretty darn tired, so we called it a night.

July 30 Landens last night at Improv Inferno/Couch Explosion/Stumpleupon.com.  Had another great night, starting with the Best Of Landens standup schtick.  I will seriously never get old of his material, and hes so good at coming up with new stuff.  He was a huge crowd-pleaser, and he knocked everyone out of the water.  Cant wait to see him start doing his thing in SoCal.  Later on that night, I was stressing out about my damn couch, and how to get rid of it.  We couldnt get it through the door out onto the sidewalk, so Rudy and I took a baseball bat and just went hog-wild on that thing, tearing the frame apart and ripping out the sides, cursing every 8 seconds and finally taking the pieces to the curb.  I cracked my old wooden bat, but it was old anyway.  Later later on, I went back to Megs and hung out with the ladies, making another couple giant White Russians, watching some hilarious YouTube stuff, and being introduced and entertained by Stumbleupon.com from Katey, which is a truly amazing and very addicting site.  It was pretty hard saying goodbye to her and Marina.

July 31 Packed up and left Michigan, drove to Davenport, Iowa for the night.

August 1 Drove through Iowa and most of Nebraska, stayed in North Platte for the night.

August 2 Finished Nebraska, drove through beautiful Colorado and into Green River, Utah for the night.                     

August 3 Finished Utah, drove through Arizona, Nevada, and finally into Moreno Valley California, where we stayed at a hotel since we arrived after hours.  Total distance from Michigan:  2236 miles

Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: jackie greene - i'm so gone

Alrighty...well I had a big job fair last week, and I was somewhat nervous going into it and didn't think much would come from it.  I thought it would be good practice for going into other interviews though, so I put on my game face and went to town.  I talked to people all over the country:  Georgia, California, Arizona, North Carolina, and Virginia, and two districts liked me enough to interview and HIRE me right on the spot.  That's right...I have two offers thus far, one in Yuma, Arizona which is the third highest growing area in the country, and one in Moreno Valley, California, which is out in the desert and close to the Coachella Valley (yeah where one of the coolest summer music festivals is every year).  I also worked my charm with the boys in the Palm Springs district, and it looks like that might be another option as well.  So as you can probably guess, I am thrilled.  So is Megs.  It's a whole heck of a lot warmer there in the desert, but it's not humid obviously, and there's no winter.  Sounds very lovely.  All three would be within hours of San Diego, which is one of the nicest cities I've ever seen.  As of now, I'm having a hard time between the three, because they all sound amazing.  I need to make up my mind by the end of the month.

Last weekend was the big Electric Six show, which was another phenomenal time.  My 8th time to be precise.  I was proud to have my posse with me:  Megs, Reese (my sister),  Dave, Marina, Katey, Brynne, and Julie, and everyone seemed to have a splendid time.  E6 rocked it out as usual, and performed jimmy carter once again and I got it all on my camera.  I'm planning to upload it to my youtube as soon as possible.   My ears were ringing for a couple days afterwards, and Megs were ringing for longer, due to the fact that we were basically right next to the huge speakers for most of the night.  Hopefully we won't go deaf by the time we're 30. 

This weekend has been surprisingly not as busy as the past month or so, so it's been quite a fun one.  Friday night we hung out with Les, her birthday boy Rudy, and other friends, and I DD'd them to Pontiac to this place called Club Sevin.  T'was a good time, although Megs and I had to leave to get food after awhile, then the bastard bouncers wouldn't let us back in without re-paying, so we said "screw that".  Then on the drive home we got lost, and it took an extra hour to finally get back (around 4am).  Not a big fan of Pontiac.  Every time I go/drive through I seem to get lost.  Oh well. 

Last night, we celebrated another birthday (Graham's) at Arena, which turned out to be a very fun night.  Megs and I, in the awesomest dollar store excursion ever, found the perfect gag gifts for him, including motivational stickers and a grab bag "gift for a boy" which included a fake cell phone among other hilarious things.   After a few brewski's, we went to a very tasty diner downtown (shamrock something or other) and had what was probably the most delicious omelet ever (feta cheese and tomatoes).  I enjoy using lots of parentheses today (apparently).