Looking into the Past

The title is two-fold; first, I haven't posted in forever (even though I've had lots of great fodder that was totally blog-worthy); and second, what I've been doing the last two days has caused a lot of reflection.

A couple of weeks ago we went down to Tuacahn to see "Footloose." The other plays were "Aida" and "Annie." I would have chosen either of those over what we actually saw, but Mama had it in her head that "Footloose" would be best, so that's what we saw. I'm not gonna lie, every time I've been to Tuacahn I have really, really enjoyed what I've seen. This time, not so much. It seemed very high-school and was unimpressive. But we did go to Red Lobster for dinner beforehand, so that mitigated the three hours of my life I won't get back.

Last week--thanks to my friend Rachel!--I was able to get tickets to the USF's production of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)." It was what my friends Lola and Bethany describe as "pee funny"--meaning you laugh so hard you almost pee. The only sad thing (and pointedly comic part of my life) is the guy I asked couldn't go. So I asked five others. They couldn't go either (granted, the five others had short notice--we're talking two hours). I ended up taking my friend Juli (YAY!). Downside to our GREAT Orchestra section tickets...they weren't together. Not only were they not together, they were very, very far apart. I was two rows up on the far left of the row, and she was on the far right of her's. I sat next to some middle aged ladies whom, I was afraid, were going to be offended by the rather suggestive undertones, but proved to be good sports who laughed heartily at the "Othello Rap" (which was, barring the blow up Godzilla and the monkey dance party, up there as one of my favorite parts). I hadn't laughed that hard in a very, very long time. It was almost cathartic.

Moving on to other aspects of my life beyond my attempts at being "cultured" (ha!), I am going on two weeks of waiting to hear about a job I interviewed for that would really be more of a career and really incredible. I really hope it, or something else, comes through soon because my student loans are going into repayment starting next month and working 3 hours a day as a TA is just not going to cut it (even though I love my job).

Which works well as a transition to the second part of the title. Mama has been feeling unwell and lost her voice, so I've been playing Kindergarten teacher for the last two and a half days. Working with them in the morning as an aide is completely different. I see so much more from the front of the room, and hear all their funny remarks. It's sent me back to a place of remembering my thought processes from when I was their age (yes, I'm weird like that and I remember). The biggest thing I remember are my huge lapses in attention. It's hard for me now to maintain strict control of the class when I remember being just like them. Yesterday we went on a field trip to the bus garage. It brought back a memory of me riding the bus to school in Kindergarten. I climbed on the bus, found my seat, and sat down. What I don't remember doing (because it happened completely subconsciously) was just dropping my backpack by the bus driver's seat as I walked past. Somebody called my name and said I dropped my bag. I insisted that I had not, and felt around my back for it. At this point the bus driver had stopped the bus, and walked my bag back to me.

Yeah, I was spesh.