Catching up :)

We'll go back to November 9 (Tuesday) to start - the day I subbed for 4th grade. Now that the event is more distantly in the past, it is hard to recall the exact experience, but here are my observations: 4th graders are not people (they're just little kids); they liked to hit, spit water on, insult, tattle on one another; they're breakable or wimpy - way too many requests to go to the nurse's office; you have to walk them everywhere (to lunch, to art, to fill up their water bottles...); portables should have water fountains. I don't really want to sub for 4th grade again.

On Thursday I left in the morning for College Station. I parked my car at Amanda's apartment and rode the bus to campus. I went to the organic chemistry labs to say hi to my friends, but sadly none of the adults (Dr. Hildreth, Carrie, Curtis) were there except Audrey. And Dr. Hildreth was all the way in Russia doing short-term missionary work. But at least I got to see some of my fellow student workers. Then Brad Cannon (fellow chem major, we've had classes together including the Horizons in Chemistry class where our group blew up the car) met me and we went to Subway for lunch. We must've talked for 2 hours, but we needed to catch up. I can really relate to Brad because he also defected from the BS degree to a BA track like me (his in environmental chemistry - he wants to work for the EPA). Then I went to the duplex to hang out with Em and kill time until Amanda got home from school. When she got home, I joined Amanda at her apartment and got to open my birthday presents! :) That night Amanda, Charity, and I went to dinner at On the Border and had a nice long talk. Charity is moving to Minnesota in February so that her husband Dan can work on a post-doc there. All three of us have exciting things going on in our lives right now. After dinner, Emily came over to Amanda's and we played Mario Kart (yeah, I took my Gamecube down to College Station) and talked until about 2 in the morning. Amanda was a wonderful hostess and made up a bed on the futon for me, and we both hit the sack.

Friday morning (barely) Amanda and I got up and decided we'd go to IHOP. It was a great way for me to wrap up my time with her. So we had Belgian waffles and talked some more before she had to go to class. After I dropped her off at the chemistry building, I went to the duplex for round 2 of my CS visit. We played some Mario Kart (Emily is getting really good) and were generally lumps on the couch - we were both tired from our late night and Emily was recovering from tests. That night we watched TV (Judge Judy, RW-RR Battle of the Sexes, Dr. 90210) and the movie Playing by Heart. Then we felt like getting out, and since I'd wanted to see it while I was in town anyway, we bundled up and drove to campus and walked over to the Bonfire Memorial. It was awesome. I hadn't liked the design when I saw it on paper, but it worked in real life. I thought it was great. On our way back to the car, we stopped by Underwood and said hi to Ashley (Em's roommate last year) and got some hot chocolate.

I left CS around 10 on Saturday and drove to the miniranch. Matt had gotten there before me, and we sat on the couch and watched A&M beat the hell outta Texas Tech! That night Mom fixed me a special birthday dinner (a mixed grill and macaroni and cheese were the highlights), with Carolyn's version of "Better Than Sex" cake for dessert. Matt, Mom, Dad, and I were joined by Carolyn, Beth, Jerry, Robert, and Cindy, which was fun. Then I opened presents, which were great - lots of things from my Amazon wishlist - and we had a bonfire. It started drizzling, so Matt and I went inside and watched Brain Donors on DVD (one of his presents to me). On Sunday, we headed back to Dallas after brunch so that I could get ready for work. Work was relative uneventful (the best parts were the delivery of Dachshund puppies and Matt visiting and bringing Sonic), and everyone thought I was crazy for being there on my birthday. Raye-Jean said I did a good job, which made me happy.

Monday and Tuesday were rest days to recover from an eventful birthday weekend and work and to prepare for three straight days of substitute teaching. I played a lot of Paper Mario (for the N64) in preparation for playing the sequel (for GCN) that I got myself for my birthday.

Wednesday through Friday I subbed for Ms. Janik's 8th grade language arts class while she was at the national meeting of the American Coaster Enthusiasts organization (she's on the executive council). Being there for three days, as well as already having subbed for the class before, really gave me a chance to get to know the kids and what they were like. On Wednesday, they did a lot of writing on their fictional short stories, Thursday was a vocab test, and Friday we analyzed a short story from their literature textbook. I had a great time doing it and the kids seemed to receive me pretty well too. They were particularly impressed that I went to a Metallica concert. I'll see most of those kids again December 2 when I sub for their math teacher, and tomorrow and Tuesday I'm subbing for my middle school social studies teacher for all three years, Julie Garrison (Churchill) (she got married November 13...she's on her honeymoon right now).

Yesterday Matt and I began a very early and preliminary apartment search. Some of the places we went laughed at us for starting so soon, since we won't be needing it until June. But we want to get an idea of the different locations, what you get for what price, amenities, etc. Plus we just like getting things done early. Yesterday we looked at higher priced, conveniently located places (another time we'll look at the cheaper, more North Dallas-type complexes). We were definitely able to come away from the day with a ranking of the complexes we'd seen, and one we liked a lot (AMLI at Bryan Place). Then we picked up Luke and had dinner and saw The Incredibles. We all liked the movie a lot. Then Matt took me home, because I was still tired from a hard week.

Today Matt and I went to the Unitarian Church (we're thinking it might be a wedding officiant source). Then I met Jon and Midhat at Cafe Istanbul for lunch. It was great catching up with them. They survived med school hell week in October and were onto complaining about their upcoming ethics test. Both of them will be going home for Thanksgiving, which will be their first times home since August. I'm glad they will be getting to see their families. And now I'm writing this and getting ready to go to work. Hopefully I won't get home too late since I have to sub tomorrow!