Life is crazy around here, and I always intend to blog more than I do, but admittedly I haven't been keeping up very well. To sum it up, over the past week at work I've listened to and graded approximately 293 band playing tests (this is, of course, on top of the other classes I teach, including choir, vocal jazz, science, computers, etc.), and then I've entered all marks and report card comments into the computer system. Our students have been writing midterms and finals for the past 2 days, and tomorrow is an admin day where all of the teachers race to get all of the grades and report comments entered in the system to meet the deadline of tomorrow at 3:00pm. It seems funny for me to complain about the stress of this time of the year, as I know a million other people who are going through the same thing and are probably even busier than I am.... but to be fair, I think there's something written in the unofficial guide to first year teaching that affords me the right to complain about stress levels, because everything I'm doing is my first time doing it. I've learned some hard lessons (for example, I've learned that doing nearly 300 playing tests in one week is ridiculous and should not be attempted by any one single person, anywhere, at any time). I've figured out what works, and what doesn't. Next time it will all be easier.
This morning before I went to work to supervise the students writing midterms/final exams, I had to make this impulse purchase on eBay. Materialistic retail therapy, maybe, but it actually brightened my spirits this morning. Perfect for a Canadian music teacher in (-40C) winter. :o)
On a totally unrelated note, I'm looking into changing cell phone companies and buying a new phone that uses a sim card so that when I come back to NZ in 2010 I can remove the sim card and replace it with one from NZ. That way I'll be able to use the phone for the whole time I'm in kiwi land, and I'll have a local NZ number so I can just top up my credit with Vodafone as I go. I know the NZ trip is a year and a half away still, but I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm crazy excited already!!!!
And on that same note, I received an e-mail from Kiwi Experience telling me that they couldn't send the $$ I won in their video competition through a cheque or money order like I had requested (they had initially asked for my bank account info for direct deposit, which I wasn't comfortable with). So, instead of the $500 prize, they offered to give me a free "Rangi" pass.... a north/south island tour worth $1,129!!! Of course I responded with an emphatic "Heck YES!" (provided the pass doesn't expire before I get to use it) - now my plans have changed from just a north island trip to a combo north/south adventure.... this means another go at the "Southern Roundup" trip that Fish and I went on last year - Poo Pub fancy dress party and all!!!
As you probably figured out from my last post, I traveled to Minneapolis over the holidays to visit Grace. I kept the visit a secret from Grace for an entire MONTH (ugh, it was SO hard not to say anything!). Her husband Barry knew I was coming, but Grace had no idea until I showed up on her doorstep, crouched and hidden under a giant box that was wrapped like a present - complete with a big red bow with gold sparkles! The video of the surprise is on Facebook, if you want to check it out. She was very surprised, and the $22 I spent on the box at the UPS store was entirely worth it to see the look on her face! :o) Unfortunately, we didn't get any of the photo challenges provided by Richard... but we had a blast nonetheless and did take a million pictures after not seeing each other for a year and a half.
The next trip on the agenda is a 4 1/2 day excursion to Victoria, BC in 4 weeks to visit my friend Liam. I haven't seen him in about 5 years, and I've never been to Vic, so I'm very excited for the trip. It'll be great to see the ocean again (first time since I left NZ!), and to spend some time with Liam and my other friends who live out west... Brianna (one of my girlfriends from the Music Dept. at university), my former voice teacher Cheryl... it'll be great! And 4.5 days will FLY by, I'm sure!
So that's basically my update. Life is chugging along as usual, and while things seem to be perpetually stressful (but wonderful) at work, overall I'm happy and healthy and enjoying where I am in life at the moment.... yet excited for things to come. :o)
And now, for no other reason than it kicks major butt, here is a video of my dear friend Danny Fong singing "Go the Distance" from Hercules in a wonderfully fabulous multitrack recording. I love this guy. Hehe.
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