As January Bleeds into February

As January bleeds into February, life got a little more hectic than planned. And when I sat down to write, I realized I had a lot of little things to say, rather than one big topic to focus on.




So here are those little things.

Yearbook Vignette: 

My editor, a sweet girl I've had in class for two years now, was helping me file papers in the back corner during class. The rest of the room was working in committees on various things that needed to be done. A group of girls was painting the backdrop for the photo booth at the upcoming dance.
My editor gasps all of a sudden, and I look up and see another girl trying to put a bin back up on a shelf. I watch her, she succeeds, and yet my editor is still gasping.
"Oh no, oh no..." "She's fine. She didn't drop it."
"Oh no.... Ms. B, don't look!"

Of course, I had to look.

There on my floor was a lovely splash of paint.

The editor runs towards the door. "I'll go get paper towels!"

"Wait!" I call out. She pauses. "There are towels over there," I point to a table, "and use the blue spray over there." I point to a different place in the room. "Will someone bring them the trash can?"

A seventh grade girl looks on and comments, "I like how she's all calm about this." My returners know better and give me weird looks.

"[Student]'s freaking out for me, so I don't have to." I laugh.


"WAIT!" Someone calls out. "We need a picture for the yearbook page!"
"You're totally correct."
"Of course."
"It -is- pretty!"

And out come the phones.

They were right. It was pretty. 

Memory Jar Update:

Two years ago I made a memory jar instead of a New Year's resolution.

The idea was to add memories all year and read them at the end of the year in reflection.

But I didn't fill it, so I just kept going. I've been adding memories for two years (folded in lovely stars I learned how to make back in the height of the anime-craze in middle school). I'm still adding them in.

 Grumpy Cat Daily Calendar:

My friend sent me a daily calendar for my birthday and I've been using it and posting some of the days on my instagram (follow me! @southrngalincal ). But the best part is that Momo (my kitten) loves paper balls. He's also a fan of drowning them in his water dish to show dominance. Which means we run out of paper balls a lot. However, the daily calendar makes perfect paper balls every day for my little punk!

(If you wonder why I call him a punk, it's because he's currently sneaking around trying to figure out a way to eat my dinner without me noticing. XD )

Leadership Vignette:

We recently had a "Valentine's Day" themed dance. It's tradition at our school to vote for an 8th grade king and queen and a 7th grade prince and princess.

I have no idea why.

But it's been that way since before I started working here. So, taking it over this year, I went with it.
As far as I can tell, there's no criteria and it's literally a popularity contest.
But it makes them happy.

In the past, it was the second highest attended dance. The first highest is Halloween because it was traditionally the first dance of the year (I added a welcome back dance this year and Halloween was still very well attended) and because, costumes. Kids love costumes.
For no reason we can tell, the winter dance is the lowest attendance.

Welp. This year the Valentine's dance attendance was almost as low as winter (I'll be counting numbers next week to check for sure) aaannnndddd.... I tried to digitize the voting (We do it online for yearbook superlatives and will be doing it for ASB officer voting, too, so...).... Next to no-one voted.

I think we shall be re-vamping the winter season dances for next year.

On the plus side, yearbook finally got good photos of this dance (third time's a charm!) 

Pokemon Go!:

Yes, I play Pokemon Go. Yes, I -still- play it. No, I don't care what you think. I love it. 

1. It gets me walking. (Actually, this is in backwards order. This is not the top reason I play.)

2. It gives me something to do when I show up early and am waiting for people.

3. Nostalgia 

4. I'm a nerd.

5. It is proof that our generation is capable of getting sh*t done. We were told we could grow up and be/do anything we wanted, time and time again. Between 6th and 8th grade, most of our dream jobs would have been to become Pokemon Trainers. And by golly, someone went out and made it possible! 

This Lickitung was hiding in Jo-Ann's! 

I found a Porygon in Gilroy today. 

Randomness:

 Saw this at a store and decided it was the absolute best way to my heart. 

(So, any secret admirers out there...  hint, hint! XD) 

There was a bird in my classroom. 

It was amusing.