Job search...

Looking for a teaching job has been a struggle.  The original struggle was deciding that I WANTED a teaching job again... the new struggle has been finding jobs to apply for. Not all schools have music anymore.  The teachers who have the good jobs hang onto them.  I tried last year, but was limited to my area, and there was next to nothing here.  The people who probably got the 2 or 3 jobs advertised last year within an hour radius, probably knew someone in the school district.  This year, with an expanded search parameter, and a little more drive, I have a little more hope that something could happen.  Especially since today, I actually got a call for an interview.

And I am TERRIFIED.  I am a nervous interview anyway...but this is heavy.  A teaching job would really save us right now.  We need the steady income.  We need the insurance.  I need to not work in a crappy restaurant in a crappy town.  I need to be doing something important.  One might say that I am desperate.  I definitely feel a little desperate.

My 35 year-old, practical self sometimes wishes that I never left my teaching job 8 years ago.  My 35 year-old self also knows that my life would be way different if that happened.  I wouldn't have moved back to Chicago and worked at Old Town and played my open mic Wednesdays and met all of these people who will be my friends forever.  I wouldn't have worked at Barcelona and met my crazy Mexican family and expanded my understanding of food and the world.  I probably wouldn't have married my husband... my beautiful, crazy husband... our relationship needed a lot of time to mature and attention that, if I had had a regular job, it would not have gotten.. it would probably not have survived.

So I have to live without regret.  I have to believe that the choices I made have worked out for the best.  Because they HAVE.  And now, going back to teaching will give me the things I want next which are babies and security and work with purpose.  My 27 year-old self did not know it would be this hard to find a job if or when she decided to go back....  but she was an idiot.

SPRING!!!!!!! (almost)

I am affected by the seasons. There is no getting around that. I can deny it forever, but its for reals. I get up earlier. I'm happier. I'm inspired to do more. I like it. I say out loud sometimes that I like the change of seasons, and that I like the snow, but the older I get, and the more aware I am of the rapid passing of time, the more I think that I could live somewhere warm year round, and visit miserable people in the north during snowy times. More of my life would be spent like it has been today... windows open, smiling, out and about, productive, sunny. Happy(er).

My Oscar Thoughts..

1. Anne Hathaway is cute. And SOOOO annoying. Really annoying. Too much. "Whoooooo" Everytime you introduce someone, you need not shout "Wooooo!!!!" into the microphone.

2. All of the presenters look WASTED- especially Javier Bardem.

3. Trent Reznor won an Oscar. ha. awesome. AND he was shockingly "normal". That' the same guy who wants to "F&#@ you like an animal", right?

4. "You've Got a Friend in Me" was good. NO MORE. No more Randy Newman. That 127 Hours song was amazing and Randy Newman wins for a FORGETTABLE tune from yet another Pixar movie. yawn.

5. I'm bored. This is the most boring oscars ever. I miss Alec and Steve.

6. Bob Hope footage= fun Bob Hope hologram= creepy.

7. And Billy Crystal? There are an awful lot of reminders about how great past Oscar hosts have been. Making that bored audience jealous is mean.

8. Anne Hathaway... ugh. Do you have to be so "amazed" about EVERYONE you introduce?! We get it. You're young. Its exciting. Calm the F down.

9. Natalie Portman is adorable. I want to be her friend.

10. 10 is too many. too many movies. Too many.

Sunday night Haiku

Bottle of Shiraz,
You were a delicious treat
You too, Sir Tombstone

The Ultimate Horrible Awful Christmas Song of the Day (for Carrie...)

Alright kids. Get out your hankies. I saved this for last because it is crazy. Any bad Christmas song list usually has this as its number 1.

Enjoy.



So the story is a real tearjerker from a TV movie that I'm sure my lady ass would end up crying at. But the VIDEO... featuring the future hall of famers "Newsong"... the video parts of it are most disturbing. With creepy red scarf guy belting his little heart out and his 4 creepy friends just lurking around him. Weeeeiiiird. I understand that they're a "band" (I guess) and they didn't want to leave them out even though they do NOTHING in the whole song... but come on.

Maybe they're the voices in the children's chorus at the end...

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS, friends. I'm going to have to find something else to write about...

Horrible Awful Christmas Song of the Day

I'm sorry.  Travel has gotten me off track.  But here's a doozy for you-




First things first...
Christian is not a 3 syllable word!  For real... whose idea was that?

My other problems include, but are not limited to, the following...

• Weird solo in the break??? someone singing??
• Crazy magna-doodle graphics
• Ha. Dramatic gong banging. Ha. Ha. Ha.
• Wacky swaying dance at the end...

feel free to add your own comments. There are so many awesome things about this song, but the video really is also a conversation piece.

Merry Christmas.
:)

Horrible Awful Christmas Song of the Day

Nothing says Christmas like a really sexy, breathy tune about the birth of baby Jesus.



I love how Jess throws away the ends of phrases and just makes crazy words (or lapses into babytalk) instead of just FINISHING AND SINGING THE RIGHT VOWELS!!! "When Christ was bown?" "Manjah?"

The video direction is not helping her either. The close up shots of her delicately fingering the mic stand or brushing her hands up against her body are not very... well, holy.