For the last month I’ve been gathering letters of recommendation from the ends of the earth for Cal State Long Beach. I am in the process of applying for their internship program, now that I’ve started teaching. With the application paper in hand, along with every letter I need (6 in all), I headed to the advisor to get my final signature and go ahead. All is well…

…only to find out that CSULB wants to make it “harder” to become an intern. Nevermind this paper I have that I’ve been working on for a month, but they want more “proof” that I’m ready to teach. Nevermind that I’m working at a middle school, and the school thinks I’m capable of teaching. Nevermind that I had to get a ton of signatures just to get into the single subject credential program in the first place!

So I wasted a good 3 hours of my life tonight, just to be told “get one more letter.” Not to mention the advisor never responded to my email from Sunday. If he had I wouldn’t have had to go to school on a night I don’t even have class, just because that is when his office hours are.

Don’t let anyone tell you it is EASY to become a teacher. It’s freaking ridiculous.

Big Bear was a lot of fun. Stacie, myself, Andrew, and Sarah all went up with some crazy girl scout leaders for a fun weekend. We didn’t do a whole lot, mainly slept, read, played catch, and ate. Stacie and I bought baseball gloves before we left and practiced our catch, it was fun. I think going to the outdoors can really boost your sanity and remind you what an awesome planet we live on.

Today I started new teacher training that lasts all week. It’s a cool opportunity to gear up for the new school year and meet some of the other new teachers I’ll be teaching with. A lot of it are concepts I learned in my credential program, but they are very good refresher courses.

After new teacher training Andrew helped me move even more stuff to our place, specifically a china cabinet from my mom’s house and a bed from Stacie’s mom’s house. Whoa, that’s a lot of apostrephes. The china cabinet belonged to my Grandma, and it looks pretty nice in our dining room. It should be a great place to put some nicer dishes, and we can use all the cabinet space we can get. I had also ordered a door from Lowes, but they’re retarded and got it wrong for a 2ND time! I got my money back and decided I’ll look elsewhere.

Stacie started college school today, I start next week, and in a couple weeks we both start school work. This will probably be a long semester since we’re both taking classes, but I look forward to the challenges ahead. Oh, so I had a cool idea. What do you think about me buying a cool domain name like www.mathparty.org and putting a blog like this on it with the daily homework? Wouldn’t that be cool? My students could come check their homework for the day, and I could post test and quiz reminders, that kind of stuff. I think it would be fun.

My first semester of the Credential Program is finally coming to a close. I should be getting A’s or B’s in all of my classes, so that’s a relief. I’m very much looking forward to a few weeks off, and then it’s back to the grind. Luckily CSULB doesn’t start again until the end of January. Off to turn in a take home final and be done with it all!

Hey yo. I’ve got a crazy busy week. Today I observed two teachers, drove out to csulb just to get a signature, back to Downey for minor leagues practice, then to Stacie’s for a few. I’ve got two presentations this week, a paper, and my credential program application should be completed. That doesn’t even include actually going to school or work. Oh well, once this week is over I will be a much happier camper. Oooooh camping.

Just thought I’d post a general “helloooo.” Not much is going on. Still working on the arcade. Wiring the control panel and getting the display finalized. A TV just wasn’t cutting it, so we’re going to try a real arcade monitor. The TV was literally giving me a headache, so hopefully this improves things. It’s more expensive of course…but better things usually are right?

School is going alright. I’ve got a meeting with some professor tomorrow at 3pm for admission to the credential program. They make you jump through so many hoops to be a teacher.

Wedding stuff has sort of mellowed out. Stacie is actively seeking that special dress, but next years “models” haven’t come out yet. We’re also deciding on who’ll be officiating, so we should know that soon.

Otherwise life is just super busy, but I keep telling myself it’s only temporary. I can’t wait to be done with school, only have one job, and not only be married to Stacie, but be blessed to see her everyday. However, I don’t like being of the mindset that the present sucks and only the future will be good. I’ve got a whole lot to be thankful for…a great family, a wonderful fiancee, great friends, good jobs, and a super dog. I’m luckier than I know.

So on Tuesday I started school again at Cal State Long Beach (teaching credential program), and it was tough. I’d taken a couple classes at Hope International in the last year, but they were primarily online. It’s been a year and a half since I did the whole “go to campus and sit in a classroom” routine, so I’m rusty.

How to Not Look Lost

I’ve been to CSULB several times, but I really had know idea where I was going. I walked around like I knew what I was doing though, and the key is to NEVER turn around. If you realize you’re going the wrong way, don’t stop and turn around (a clear sign you made a wrong directional choice). Just keep going and take the long route, otherwise it will be obvious you went the wrong way. A part of this is to NEVER slow down. If you slow down and start to look around, once again it’s obvious you don’t know where you’re going.

Getting Picked Last

Now I know this isn’t elementary school dodgeball, but I must smell or something. I got to class fairly early, and had 1 seat open right next to me. No lie, it was the LAST seat to be taken. Not only that, but it was by a 60 year old man who served in the Peace Corps. in Thailand. I was passed up by other guys my age, and even other girls my age. Kinda depressing, haha.

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man

I got to school early just be safe, so while I waited I started the above book. It’s pretty interesting. I already know Michael Moore is a huge crock, but the book gives very specific information. One of my major beefs with Michael Moore is that he hates Americans. In England one time he said “The dumbest Brit is smarter than the smartest American.” What really gets me is there are people in this country that just hand him money left and right and know nothing about him. Forget that his films and books are riddled with lies for a minute. Because of the fact that he bad mouths the USA every chance he gets, Michael Moore will never get a dime from me. I don’t need to pay to read the lies and purposeful mistruths in his books and movies, they’re all over the internet. But that’s a completely different entry.

Yay school.