'The world spins madly on ...'

Alright, alright, alright! I guess it's time to get this going. I've been sitting on this thing for quite a while, and have honestly thought about writing something on here just about every day for the past few months. Why I haven't, I'm not sure. I could lie and say it's because I am way too busy to sit down and crank out a few lines, but that would be a lie of monstrous proportions.

I have not been too busy, and I have not been without things to say. I've just been ... distracted, I guess. It's not laziness and it's not even procrastination. It's just that I find myself getting lost in my own thoughts for periods of time long enough to lapse hours, or I find myself packing for yet another adventure with Alex, or I have applications to fill out and resume packets to send, or reading to do, or a phone call to make, or an email to check. You see the circle.

But not now! I really should use this, if for nothing else, than to just take a few minutes a day to think privately and write something down to mark (it sounds cheesy) life. Plus, the added bonus is that it keeps my typing skills at their tippity-top shape. No school and no legitimate work for the time being has made my ninja typing speed a little more rusty than normal. No worries, though. It's just like riding a bike. Jump on and pedal, baby ... just jump on and pedal.

So, maybe I could move onto something a little more relevant? Like, what's going on these days, perhaps? Sure ... why not?

To begin, I am now fully certified to teach English Grades 8-12. This coming Saturday (the 2nd of August), I will take another test to become certified for Grades 4-8 as well. I never thought I would want to work with kids younger than 15, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And, trust me, desperate times these are! Why, you ask? Well, it is to do with AISD putting a bit of a hiring freeze on all secondary teachers who are not either Special Ed or Bilingual. The trouble here is that I am neither of those, so the freeze certainly applies to me. It's extremely frustrating for me because we all hear about how schools are in such dire need of teachers, yet when I actually get completely certified, I am told I can't teach where I currently live ... right now, anyway. From what I am hearing, though, the freeze isn't going to thaw for quite some time 'round these parts. I think the big problem is funding. There is a cap of 22 students to 1 teacher for Elementary, but Middle and High School have no government-mandated cap. Right now, in this area, the ratio of student to teacher in High School (and I think Middle School as well) is about 36:1. It's ridiculous!

So, as you can imagine, I've been feeling the great frustrations of "The Real World" (not the MTV show, mind you) for the past couple of months. I sent out close to 40 application packets (with a ton of supplemental "HIRE ME!" things) to every school within a 40 mile radius of Austin, which have all been left unanswered. Oh, wait, I did receive one response from a local principal saying he was extremely impressed with my packet, but was not doing any hiring for the Fall. If that changed, apparently I'm first on his list to call. Fat lot of good that's going to do me! Because, as I said earlier, it is not likely to change for a while to come.

I think the final nail in the coffin of my high aspirations with AISD happened a little over a week ago when I was finally able to contact someone in the district by phone and was informed of the No-Hire-Rule so far for 08-09. (This applies to ALL teachers applying for AISD, not just first-years like myself.) Due to all of this mess down here, I'm having to consider other options elsewhere in Texas. (More on that if anything comes to fruition ...)

The short part of the long version up above is that I really want and need a teaching job IMMEDIATELY. I will do something else if I absolutely have to, but I would prefer to just find a position in that which I have been trained and certified. It just seems like an awful lot of work gone to waste if nothing comes about in the near future. Of course, no matter what, I'll make the most of anything that happens. Aside from a few really bad days last week, I'm not letting any of this get me too far down. For now, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for a nibble on the job line somewhere else. That would mean moving AGAIN, but that's okay. As Alex says, "I'm adventurous!" I'll just adhere to his statement and do whatever needs to be done.

The good news is that, not only do I have a great family cheering me on, but I also have a very supportive and amazing man by my side at all times. I'm not saying that the somewhat recent discussions of "What if ..." and "But, how ..." and "Hypothetically speaking ..." have all been perfect and hunky-dory and smooth and super-duper-great. I'm just saying that the outcome of all of the discussions has been extremely positive and has eased a huge amount of stress. I would honestly be a lot more worried and upset about the repercussions of another move, but I don't have to be because Alex has actually said he will go with me if I get a job somewhere other than Austin. This, of course, is all that I could ever ask for. I mean, my life lessons have taught me that nothing is ever 100% certain, but still ... I trust this one with all of me. Besides, 'we' are a great 'we,' and 'we' definitely want to keep it that way ... which is nice.

I will say that being a "big girl" and making "big girl" decisions is a lot harder than I ever would have guessed. It's not that I can't handle it, or that I am freaking out in the least. It's more that I am at a point in my life where I am making my decisions while wholly factoring in another person in order to go on this journey (wherever it leads) completely together. It's not a burden and it's not an imposition and it's not a complaint ... AT ALL ... what it is, however, is a challenge. A good challenge, though. One that I welcome whole-heartedly, and one that I know will continue to be fulfilling and better than I ever thought it could be. (Sorry, I'm getting sappy. I'll stop.)

So, yeah, I guess that's the big thing. Me (and Alex, of course) trying to figure out what the heck to do in this transitional point of our lives. It's a little rough, as I said, but I truly believe that it will all work out eventually. It may not be exactly how I had planned ... moving here, getting an awesome job right away, staying for at least a while, knocking this city on its ass, so on and so forth ... but it WILL work out, somehow.

Okay, I think that's all I am going to write for now. I need to start packing for yet another trip out of town. (Alex and I sussed out the other day that we have been in town only 1 weekend in the past 6! Wow!) This trip is business-related, however, much unlike the others. As I said previously, I'll discuss more once I know what's what.

Later posts may also be back-tracking a bit, I believe. It's been a while since I have blogged consistently, so it might take some time to get back into the swing of things full- force. Or not. We shall see. I do need to write about our trip to New Mexico at the beginning of this month, going to see Jersey Boys in Dallas this past weekend, some family updates, some friend updates, my thoughts on the Wii (Alex's birthday present), Shark Week, and some other random miscellany that I'm sure will be thrilling to read about. (Ha!)

For now, I hope everyone is very well. I'm sure I'll be "talking" to you all soon.

Love, ballpoint pens, and snow cones!
- S.