January 12th: The Gym

Yes, it’s another post motivated by how loathsome my freshmen are.

Alright, so they’re not loathsome.  Just incredibly irritating.  And for some reason, today they irritated me to the brink of fury.

I won’t go into what it was that made me so angry, but I will say that a year ago (six months ago?), I would have gone through a drive-thru on the way home and ordered myself a Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal and Diet Coke.  I eat my feelings.

Today, I get my aggression out another way.

When I moved, I joined a gym since my days of a free membership to neighborhood gyms are over.  I love my gym.  There’s nothing special about it – it’s a gym.  It’s got treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, a weight room.  They offer classes; they’ve got trainers.

What’s special is the fact that now when I’ve had a bad day, all I want to do is go and take out my aggression on the machines.  I worked out for an hour and a half – my longest workout since my 10-miler training days.

• 20 minutes bike
• 20 minutes elliptical
• 20 minutes stairs
• Reverse Curls and Press
• Incline Press
• Bench Rows

It was a hard workout.  I almost felt like I almost wanted to puke.  And it was awesome.  I felt much better about my life.  Not better enough to make me love my freshmen, but good enough to make me okay with going to work tomorrow.

That, and the fact that tomorrow is Friday.  You know.

January 11th: My Seniors

Like I’ve said, it’s been a difficult school year so far.  I won’t go into my usual complaints too much here because that’s not what I’m all about here.  “Love and light” as crazy Danielle from Real Housewives of New Jersey would say.

Love and light.

This year, my love and light comes from my seniors.  Best senior class ever.  Four years ago, about six of my seniors were also in my English 9 classes.  It’s always fun to see them grow up.  But that’s not the best part about this senior class.

They’re laid back, intelligent, friendly, and they laugh at my jokes.  They go along with whatever crazy assignments I have in my repetoire, no matter how confusing the current iteration may be.

They understand when I’m stressed.  They don’t hold it against me when I’m unprepared.  They scavenge left-over food from yearbook’s Friday breakfast club.  You wouldn’t think that would make them endearing, but it does.  A small group of about four boys gets to class almost IMMEDIATELY after yearbook ends just to see if there’s food.  And when there is, you better make sure you get to class first.

It’s been a hard English 9 year, and it’s been a hard yearbook year (which ends up defining the year), but TGFMS.

Thank God for My Seniors.

January 10th: That Awkward Moment…

This full week back from winter break has been brutal. Pretty much everything about work irritates me. When you’re in a “mood,” it’s hard to find things that make the sun shine brighter (especially when the weather SUCKS).

And then I saw this:

Mischief managed. Thank you funstoo.blogspot.com.

January 9th: Looking Forward to the…Week??

To my frequent readers, the following statement will not come as much of a surprise:  I love television.  Good television, bad television.  Reality television, dramas, the occasional comedy.  I love it all.

Television is one of the many reasons that I found myself this morning looking forward to the week ahead.

I used to (and still do) look forward to the weekend.  Who doesn’t?  Two days off from work to do with whatever you like.  However, if you don’t also look forward to the WEEK, doesn’t it seem like you’re wasting your life?

Here’s why I’m looking forward to the week ahead:

Monday:  Writing Days in school and “How I Met Your Mother” on television.  On Mondays, my school has an Anchor Day where I see all five of my classes in one day.  On Anchor Days, my students spend their time on personal writing; they can write about whatever they want, however they want.  And so can I.  Hence the reason that it’s 1:49pm and I’m catching up on my blog.  It’s calming, and peaceful, and I love it.  After school, I look forward to “How I Met Your Mother,” despite the fact that tonight’s is a repeat and most consider the show to have jumped the shark (who IS the mother already, DAMMIT?).  Because tonight’s episode is a repeat, I will most likely watch multiple episodes of “Justified.”  Trying to play catch-up before season 3 starts.

Tuesday:  Trivia with Devil’s Hula Hoop.  A few months ago,  my friend Meghan invited me to come and play trivia at a bar with some of her work colleagues.  Apparently it was an “audition;” they take their trivia very seriously.  When the matching round came up, the category was types of poetry and their forms.  Hello?  English teacher!  I rocked it, and was “allowed” to continue playing.  Fast forward to December, and our team, Devil’s Hula Hoop won the season and was invited to play in the tournament of champions on January 29th.  Yes, there will be media coverage. This Tuesday I also get to meet with my trainer.  BONUS.

Wednesday:  Humanities Post-Holiday Blues Hump Day Happy Hour, followed by viewing of “The Artist.”  Yes, we’re going out on a Wednesday.  Because that’s how we roll.

Thursday: Yoga at 6.  “Vampire Diaries” at 8.  Catching up on “Revenge” at 9.  That’s right.  “Vampire Diaries.”  Damon is my boyfriend, and he’s too busy plotting how to kill Claus to hang out most days, so Thursday is the only time we get to see each other.  No, I have not had a psychotic break.

Friday:  Legitimate excuse to listen to this song:

Plus it’s a Red Day.  Plus I leave for New York to spend the weekend with LJ.

It’s a packed week, but with something to look forward to every day, I didn’t really mind coming to work.  Plus I still have Starbucks gift cards to work my way through.  If every day started with a triple grande skinny hazelnut latte, who wouldn’t be in a good mood?

January 8th: Body Pump

In my effort to regain some modicum of health and wellness, I’ve started going to Body Pump class at my gym every Sunday.

For those of you who have never done Body Pump before, it’s an hour-long barbell class that works pretty much every muscle group in your body, one after another, with very little rest in between.

I love it.  It’s like any good workout – you kind of hate it while you’re doing it (especially the squats and lunges), but when you’re done, you feel accomplished…and sore.  I spent all evening saying to anyone that would listen that I wasn’t going to be able to lift my arms tomorrow.

I tried to find a YouTube clip of a class that would help you visualize just how brutal the class is, but none of the ones I saw really did it justice, so I decided to go with this one.  I love the motto at the beginning:  “When your body screams, tell it to shut up.”  Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I just yelled, “SHUT UP!” at the top of my lungs the next time I’m in class?

January 7th: Melanie’s Comforter

On a completely unrelated note, this time last year, I was on the Lido deck.  Just sayin’.

In my new house, I live in a bedroom in a finished basement.  I love my room, and I love the fact that I essentially have my own door to the outside and my own driveway.  Plus, the gigantor TV is right outside of my room, so when I fall asleep watching television, I have to stumble all of five feet to my room.

However, because my room is in the basement, it gets cold.  Especially in winter.  I realize the weather has yet to make up it’s mind about which season it would like to be, every other day it’s winter.

It used to be that my down comforter was enough, but the added chill was forcing me to sleep in socks, pajama pants, a t-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt.  Most night, I found myself sleeping with the hood up, curled into the fetal position.

For some reason, Melanie’s old comforter was hanging out in the living room.  I’m not sure why it was there, but I took it and put it on my bed for the night.  When I woke up in the morning, I was actually warm and cozy.  So much so that it took a tremendous amount of extra effort to wake up and get ready for school.

Flash forward to this  morning.  Saturday morning.  A morning without alarm clocks disturbing my slumber.  And now a morning without the bitter chill of winter to disturb it either.

I woke up around 8:30 cuddled in warmth.  I was comfortable that I stayed in bed for about another hour watching the morning news and reading Stephen King’s new book, 11/22/63.  The best part?  I wasn’t sleeping under a thousand layers of clothing.

Granted, today’s weather ended up being gorgeous and not cold in the slightest, but I still live in a basement, and it still gets wicked cold in there, and I still woke up rested, happy, and warm.

January 6th: Driving to DC

Yes Megan, you are once again a blessing, because I would not have discovered that I actually like driving into DC  had I not been heading to Masa 14 to meet you for happy hour.  True, there were other wonderful people there (Jayme, Danielle, Laurel, Stacie), but ask, Megan, and ye shall receive.

For a long time, I hated driving into DC.  I hated finding a place to park and I worried about DC traffic.  I lied to myself and claimed that riding on the metro (even though it made the trip 2-3 times longer than necessary), gave me time to read in an otherwise hectic day.

Now that I’m back in a gym routine, I have plenty of time to read.  Now that I’m being strict about my budget, I don’t want to waste money on a metro card, not to mention the fact that to park in a garage on a Friday costs me almost $5 extra dollars.  You would think that Friday at 5pm is the official “start” of the weekend, but not according to WMATA.  One time I contemplated taking a nap in my car until 2am so I could avoid paying the parking fee, but swiftly decided that the idea was ridiculous.

Now that I am confident in my ability to obtain clutch parallel parking spots in the District, I realize how much time I save by driving into DC straight from work for much needed social interaction with people my own age.  One can only take so much of the American teenager.

January 5th: Ultra-Pink Scarf

Before the holidays, I saw an ultra-pink scarf at Target. I call it “ultra-pink” because this scarf isn’t pink. It’s PUH-INK. And I wanted it.

Unfortunately (fortunately?), I’m trying to be more fiscally responsible these days (why do I feel like I’ve written that exact same phrase before?), so I said, “Erinn. You do not need another scarf.”

See, I have about a dozen scarves in my wardrobe. They allow me to wear almost the exact same outfit approximately 3-4 times a week without anyone noticing because they are blinded by the awesomeness of my scarf.

I didn’t need the ultra-pink scarf, but I never stopped wanting the ultra-pink scarf.

Enter after-Christmas shopping.

I received four Target gift cards from my students for Christmas, and they were burning a hole in my pocket. To be honest with you, I had forgotten all about the ultra-pink scarf. I went to Target in search of a birthday present for my brother, accessories for my New Year’s Eve outfit, and a foam roller.

You can probably guess where this story is going. I found the scarf, remembered how badly I wanted it, and I bought it. UPS (ultra-pink scarf) was mine at last, but I didn’t actually wear it until today.

Anytime you get a compliment on a article of clothing, it makes you feel better about life. I don’t care who you are. I got many compliments on the UPS today, but my favorite came from one of my students, who was sitting in the hallway working on some writing for another class.

“That scarf is LOUD.”

Yeah it is.

I’m not sure this photo does the “loudness” of the scarf justice, but hopefully you’ll get some idea.

The funniest part of the compliment is this: later that class period, I was walking to the main office. The student was still sitting there, but her wardrobe had changed a bit. She was wearing a leopard print, fuzzy ski cap thing with REALLY long “ears.” The ears were so long, that the ends doubled as mittens. Literally. You can stick your hands in the ears of this hat to keep them warm. I looked at my student.

“Dude. Your hat is LOUD.”

January 4th: My Trainer Randolph

When I moved back in with Melanie in August. my rent and utilities dropped drastically.  My original plan was to put that extra money either directly into savings or towards my credit card bill.

I decided that the more important vice to work on was my health.  Credit debt will still be there when I get my act together; I felt I just needed to act first

So with the extra money I saved on rent and utilities, I joined a gym and hired a trainer

I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser for so long, wishing I could work out with Jillian, Bob, Brett, Cara, or Dolvette – never Anna.  When I was training for my 10-miler last April, I used to picture Jillian perched on my treadmill, telling me to go faster, screaming at me not to give up.  Even though she was just a devil on my shoulder, she motivated me not to give up on this training when, athletically, I’ve given  up on so many things before.

Unfortunately, over the summer, I was crazy busy (excuses, excuses), lost fitness, and gained almost all of the weight back.  But that’s a sappy, sorry story for another day.

Once I moved, I knew I needed to join a gym considering the fact that my free memberships to neighborhood gyms were a thing of the past.  With my membership came a free “fitness evaluation,” which is short for, “We want to sell you personal training.”

What can I say?  I’m a sucker for advertising.

My first trainer, Leon, was awesome.  Then he got a promotion and introduced me to Randolph.

We have 30 minute workouts once a week.  My first few sessions killed me.  Killed me.

Killed me.

I was so sore, I could barely walk, I could barely lift my arms.   I kinda loved it.

I could thank my lucky stars for Randolph every week, but he said a few things to me today that made me feel better about myself than I’ve felt in a long time.

After finishing drop sets of a one arm row (a new exercise), I said, “I like those.”

He said, “I know you like those because you like to work.”

I’m dripping with sweat.  He said, “You know why you’re sweating so much?  It’s because you’re in shape.  People who are in shape sweat a lot when they work hard.  It may not be the kind of shape you want to be in, but no one is.  You’re in shape.”

He saw how out of breath I was, checked my pulse, and said, “All that cardio you’re doing is paying off.”

So I may not be losing much weight at the moment, and my credit card might be kinda sorta (definitely) close to maxed out, but dammit if I don’t feel great about what I’m doing right now.

Probably not going to feel so great about it when I get out of bed tomorrow, but it sure as hell beats a hangover.

January 3rd: My Week Starts on Tuesday

I’ve been on Weight Watchers (unsuccessfully, though I know it works when I’m actually following the lifestyle) for a long time now, and my week always begins on Tuesday.  I go to Monday night meetings, and then when I wake up on Tuesday morning, the week starts over fresh.

This morning, I feel like I’m actually starting my new year.  Today is Tuesday and I’ve officially rebooted.  I found that optimism I’ve been looking for these last two days of 2012, the optimism that was hiding under my hangover.   Granted, it kind of went away after a day with my ninth graders, but I woke up feeling good.