I had a BABY!

Just kidding everyone! I'm not ready for kids yet, though I do want to have a girl. I'm not even married yet though, so you don't have to worry about that surprise for a time being.

But I HAVE been gone for quite some time, haven't I? That's because I decided to take what I call a "breather" because I was doing so many things! I had a new job (which still feels new, though it's been a while yet) and I was taking a photography class. The class ended after six weeks and I might take another one. I will post pictures soon, if I can learn how which I'm sure I can.

My new job is GREAT! It is so exciting to be in the "middle" of eveything that is going on. I get called in at 2 in the morning sometimes if some news breaks and they need someone to man the phones and keep their ears peeled on the scanners. I've made great friends with all the producers, most of the photographers, and 4 of the reporters. There are three other "deskies" as we call them that I work with, and they are great.

What has been the most important story I've worked on so far, you are probably asking? Well, I got a call from a woman who had raccoons living in her attic and her sister had a terminal illness and couldn't leave her bed and the raccoons would keep her up at night and the caller was worried that the raccoons would come downstairs and attack her sister or ruin the equipment that was keeping her alive. I told everyone about this at the morning editorial meeting and they all thought it was crazy, but I said it was interesting so they did the story! It got picked up on the national feed and I think people all over the country saw it! Did you?

Well, that's enough for now. My friend Kellie is coming over so we can go get salads! The perfect meal for such a hot hot day!

Its a whole NEW strange world!

Can you believe how long its been since I posted? Forever, it seems, and it certainly seems that way considering how much has CHANGED since I last posted. Let me apologize for not posting more, but I got in trouble for having my blog at my old school (more on that later) and I didn't want to post for a while. Let me re-phrase that: my principal didn't want me to post at ALL!

My friend Danielle told another teacher about my blog. It wasn't very smart of her to do that. This other teacher is terrible and was threatened by me, I think, so she told my PRINCIPAL about my blog. She claims she just mentioned it in "passing" while a few people were talking about blogs, but I know she just told him. Anyway, he told me that he knew about my blog, and that he didn't want me using our school's name in any bad way. That was IT! You probably remember from my earlier posts how much I hated that job, anyway, and when he started infringing on my basic human rights, I knew I had to go. I gave them notice and quit.

I felt ok about this because I'd had an interview for another job: my dream job. My uncle had an "in" at one of the local tv stations, and got me an interview with their Assignment Manager. For those of you who don't know, the Assignment Manager basically decides what stories the reporters do. Anyway, to make a long story short...I GOT A JOB WITH THEM! I am working at the Assignment Desk, which is a very busy job and you really have to keep your cool. It's a lot of fun and I've been doing it for almost two weeks already! The hours are bad: I work dayside on the weekends and mornings monday through wednesday. Still, I get my weekend nights off to go dancing and I'm done at lunchtime during the week!

I really think this new job is for me. I've already made great friends with everyone at the station, and I totally have a nose for news. I get to listen to police scanners and hear about things as they happen, and I have to call a "beat list" of people everyday to see what they are doing! I've been told that people sometimes get to go up in helicopters if they can handle it, and I really think I would be good at that.

Monday Monday!

I just had a very boring weekend. That's why I didn't bother writing about it! I had dinner with two friends on Friday night (both of them are older than me) and I had an uncomfortable time because no body wanted to talk about anything interesting. I kept talking about my new job (more on that later!) and told funny stories about how stupid my principal is (they both work at my school) but no one cared! They just kept talking about current events that I didn't care about because they were mostly health topics (bird flu and Africa) and those aren't things that I review when learning about news.

So my uncle Rock DID talk to his friends over at the news station and THEY CALLED ME!! I am going in for an interview next week. I have been watching a lot of television news to make sure that I am able to "talk the talk" when I go in for an interview. It would be great if the other job I applied for called me too so I could chose the one that would allow me to be more creative and use the skills I enjoy.

I have only told a few teachers at work because you need to be "discrete" when you are working new job contacts. I also don't want the other teachers get ideas about leaving their jobs too. I know that most of them are unhappy and think that they might quit if they see other people having easy times getting better jobs. I have a friend who said this happened to her once. It's not that I don't want them to be happier -- people should always leave jobs if they are boring or unfair or if no one listens to you -- it's just that I don't know when I will get my new job and I don't want to have to worry about working even HARDER in a job I don't like if many people are leaving. There is one woman who is retiring soon and many people are worried about that, already!

On a different topic, I have a second date with Alex Wednesday night. I like Alex but worry that I am going to be tired because I also have plans tomorrow night. This is turning out to be one busy week!

Working the "Connections"!

Well, I haven't yet heard back from the tv station about the producer job. But, it might not matter at all! I had dinner tonight with my aunt and uncle, and it looks like Rock knows people very well at one of the local television stations! He is going to "put a word in" for me to get me a job! This is all very exciting, because I think this is how things work in the entertainment industry -- you really have to have an "in" and then work it for all you can!

It's all very exciting, and I don't even know what I'll be doing yet! As I've often said, writing is my true passion, so I hope I will be writing scripts. I also like working with my hands (I used to make my own luggage) so doing sets and that sort of thing could be interesting for a while.

The date went very well. He was a smart man and we went to a nice restaurant and told funny stories (he thought about joining the army once!). He has a very cool apartment and a dog named Jax. I don't like dogs, but Jax was very old so he couldn't do very much to bother me.

Ugh. Back to work tomorrow! Why can't my new life just start! ;)

And we're off!

Well, I sent off my resume! Now it's just that "wait and see" time when you have to wait for them to finally get around to calling you. It's funny, because now that I have decided to find a new career, my principal is taking a vacation! Just my luck!

What's even funnier is that NEXT week I have to have a meeting with my principal and two of my "leader" teachers. It's good because my leader teachers appreciate the interesting lessons I have my class do (I once had them eat different mints and describe them to each other to prove that people like different things. Then they all drank from the same water and even THAT tasted different to them. I told them that this was wrong and they all felt very embarassed. I told them that was ok, because it can be embarassing not to know things). But this meeting next week will be interesting because I know that, if they don't listen to me and let me do the things in class that I think are good ideas, that I won't have to take orders from them for very long.

I get very excited thinking about a new career. It's sort of like starting a new chapter, but you are still the main character! ;) I am excited to buy new clothes for my job and can already see myself with different notebooks and reading through lots of magazines. I hope that my new job still gives me time for photography, because I am greatly enjoying using my photographers eye.

Tomorrow I am going out with one of Derrik's friends. Derrik said this man is handsome and interesting and that I will have a blast. I think that he lives in a "loft", which I think is great because that is a much more modern way of living. I have a friend who lives in a loft that has a roof gardens where you can grow your own vegetables, and that is a much more responsible way to live than most people.

A new calling?

Well, readers, I am up early this morning looking for new jobs! I went dancing last night, which is a story in itself! Let's just say my friend Carla had a little too much to drink and ended up embarassing herself pretty badly! I had two drinks, but was still totally able to drive us home.

How PERFECT does this job look for me:

News Producer
Qualifications: Strong writing skills, creative production ideas -Ability to work cooperatively in diverse newsroom -2-to-4 years producing experience with resume tape-Extensive writing experience with corresponding examples-College Degree-References

Producers are expected first and foremost to contribute to the team effort of effectively covering and presenting daily news. They are expected to contribute story ideas on a daily basis, meet all deadlines, work with assignment desk, anchors, reporters, photographers, editors, and graphics to present the news in a fair, accurate and balanced manner.

I am a very creative person, so I think this job would be perfect for me. I can picture it now, can't you? Thinking up new things to put on television, doing graphic art, investigating criminals, even talking to celebrities, I bet! It just seems so much for "me" than teaching. I like teaching because I have my own room and can decorate it any way I want and I can have the children do interesting things, but I don't like all the competition I feel with all the other teachers. I also don't like that my principal doesn't listen to me and asks me to do things that have NOTHING to do with my job.

What other jobs are creative? Any ideas, readers?

Wait until you hear why!!!

OK. I know what you're thinking. I haven't written in days. And, on top of that, I said I would never do that again! Well, readers, wait until you hear why!

I am starting to think that I should leave teaching. Last week my prinicipal took me aside and told me that he wanted to outline things I should do with my class. I thought this was great, because my principal was finally wanting to hear what I needed in order to have my job be the kind of job I wanted it to be. Well! He barely listened to anything I had to say! He had a list of "action items" all drawn up and read them to me, but then didn't let me have the things I wanted, too! And it wasn't like I didn't come up with great suggestions (I said I wanted more music and dance lessons in my class, but he didn't want that)!

Also, it seems that nobody cares about teachers. I wanted very much to have a guest speaker come in and talk about valentines day. But no one cared enough to do it! I called every single museum in the area and even some that aren't and nobody wanted to help. I imagine they had bad memories of their teachers and are getting back.

So, as you can easily imagine, I have not wanted to do much "writing" about teaching. I know that that is what I have done in the past on my blog, but I think that will change. Also, I need to change careers and have been spending a lot of time thinking about that. Have any of you readers recently changed jobs? If so, why? Were you able to get a better job in the end?

We'll all see where this new journey takes us. Tonight I am going dancing, so I can probably stop thinking about all this for a while. It will be nice to stop thinking so much about this, because I am tired. I called in sick today for a "mental health" day. It has been nice, because it is warm out and I might go take some pictures.