Before opening my laptop I had so
much to write about today and now it has all suddenly left me. Kind
of annoying.
I did things at work today. First
thing in the morning I went up and took a picture of the new fifth
grader and then edited it and uploaded it to Infinite Campus. Then I
had classes in the lab. A couple times I went up to the second floor
to help one of the resource teachers with Excel stuff. I learned it
is kind of hard to describe spreadsheet things over the phone. It's
much easier to explain things in person.
I watched a couple videos explaining
the new MAP test, which will be completely online next time, not on a
local server. I liked the MAP test before, for the most part,
because it was fairly simple to work with, but it sounds like the
online version will be a lot nicer. I won't have to go around and
individually load the test on each computer for each kid and I'll be
able to monitor how fast everyone is going from one screen. I'm
interested to see if I can possibly load the monitor stuff on my
Nexus tablet, something I rarely use anymore. Another bonus to the
online version is that scores will be available immediately. We
won't have to wait twenty-four hours for the tests to be uploaded
from the server and then imported to the website. It looked like the
results could also be organized by name or by score (previously it
was just by score) so I might not have to write down scores anymore.
That would be pretty great.
This afternoon I got a chance to
practice my smalltalk/conversational skills with the substitute for
one of the first grade classes. In general I'm not great at
smalltalk and today I noticed how difficult it is for me to ignore
the little voice in my head that is telling me not to talk. It was a
genuine struggle to overcome that and make myself carry on the
conversation, not only answering questions but also starting a new
topic with questions of my own. It was interesting to internally
observe this. The conversation was good, so worth the struggle. I
learned she is going back to school for education after she dropped
out to raise her daughter. We could relate over the struggle of
having to work during the day and then do homework at night. She has
the added struggle of working, then the kids, and then homework.
I've said it before and I still stand by it, I couldn't do that. I
have enough trouble with the way things are now. There is no way I'd
have the motivation to handle work, school, and kids.
After work I went and got gift cards
for my mom's birthday and Christmas. I get her cards for the same
place for both events and it is easier to buy them at the same time
rather than making two trips. I just make one of them
Christmas-themed. Then I went to Chipotle and engaged in even more
smalltalk with one of the girls working there. I have never had a
stuttering problem but I feel like that is kind of what happens in my
head when I have the opportunity to start a conversation. I have a
question or statement in my head and there is a physical struggle to
vocalize it. But maybe riding the wave of talking to the substitute
allowed me to actually converse with the girl at Chipotle rather than
just answering questions. It is possible that I just need more
practice talking to strangers. I don't have the opportunity that
often. Or at least I don't go out of my way to make it happen.
When I got home my decision not to
have dogs in the future was pretty much solidified. As usual Tanner
had peed on the floor. Today however there were two giant puddles.
One of the water bowls was empty so it kind of felt like he had
chugged it just so he could pee as much as possible. After cleaning
up the first puddle I was focused on the second one as I walked
across the carpet. I cleaned up the second puddle, crossed the
carpet again, and then on my first step off the carpet I slipped a
little.
At first I thought it was a third
puddle, which really annoyed me, but when I looked I didn't see a
puddle. Then I checked my shoe and I was pissed. I had stepped in
some sort of dark vomit on the rug. Vomit most likely caused by one
of the dogs eating poop. So the worst kind of vomit. I took my shoe
off and actually had to take a minute to collect myself. I went
downstairs and put new shoes on and changed my jacket. I needed to
remove myself from the situation. Then I went back upstairs and
spent however long scrubbing the rug and the bottom of my shoe. I
like dogs but ours have enough annoying habits that I would be
perfectly fine not having any in the future. I'll be the fun uncle
to a dog, show up and have fun with it and then retreat back to my
dog-free house. That would be ideal. All the benefits without the
stress and responsibility. Every day I am more and more of a cat
person, even though I think I'm allergic. Still better than barking
and pee and poop vomit.
Dinner was good tonight and I showed
several videos that I think went over well. Then I did nothing with
the rest of my night. I had a headache which was motivation enough
not to do anything. Tomorrow I would like to start writing my
collection assessment report. That seems mighty optimistic but who
knows. Inspiration might strike. One can always hope.
Now I'm going to go to bed because I
have a headache and I'm tired. Two of the best reasons to go to bed.
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