I gotta say, this year has been amazing. I know I sometimes complain and feel burnt out about school, but my students are overwhelmingly awesome. Take the project kids at my school have been working on- they are using social and public media to educate their community about food and health issues. East LA is a food desert- which is defined my wikipedia as any area in the industrialised world where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain. It is prevalent in rural as well as urban areas and is most prevalent in low-socioeconomic minority communities, and is associated with a variety of diet-related health problems.

All the eleventh graders at the school have been working tirelessly to come up with ways to change this reality- and one of the incredible things they've done is create a marketing campaign which will be airing on our city's public transportation system. Yowzer!

Here are some of the videos they have made:

Have You Noticed How Far You Have to Go to Get to a Supermarket? from Public Matters on Vimeo.

and

Have You Noticed How Often You Eat Fast Food? from Public Matters on Vimeo.

My students are truly amazing.

When did it officially become legal for me to marry my husband?

Just over 40 years ago.

That's within your or your parents' lifetime.

But laws remained on the book (but not enforced) in certain states as late as 2000. That's certainly within your lifetime.

Happy Loving Day, all.

Not sure if you've already seen this, but if you haven't, Behold! The least offensive Christian song I've heard all year!



(Okay, so some of the visuals are a bit racial profile-y, but the lyrics are good, and the song is catchy.)

So, believe me when I tell you, that police story is much better in its one line form. The actual experience just involved a lot of waiting around and dozing on the couch.

On Saturday night, we met some friends for dinner in Long Beach (where they live). We went to dinner and then returned to their apartment for dessert. (Cue sinister music)

Then THIS happened. (Note, we had no idea what was going on at the time.)

We tried to leave around 10:00, and were told by the police to get back in the apartment, lock the door and close the blinds. We heard yelling, running, and gunshots. Then there was a helicopter and dogs barking. Richard looked out the window and saw the SWAT team. At 11:00, we tried to leave again. No dice. Since there was no end in sight, I fell asleep on the couch. Richard stayed awake all night in full Batman alert mode. At 5:00 am, the police knocked on the door to take a statement. We asked if we could leave, and he said he'd ask his supervisor. They finally let us leave. The street was completely silent, but there were 8 or 9 police cars just hanging out. We drove home, and took Charlie outside to use the bathroom (the little trooper held it for nearly 12 hours). Then we called our mothers and went to sleep.

So there you have it. Much better in its one line form, don't you agree?

Hooboy. We had a crazy adventure last night that involved being held hostage inside a friend's apartment by the SWAT Team and Long Beach Police Department for nearly 7 hours. No kidding.

Instead of that story though, I'll share pictures of my other big Spring Break project: the dining room. Long ago, our dining room looked like this.

It was nice. However, due to our apartment complex's insane policy about wood furniture in the garage (It's a fire hazard, you know. Unlike other things people put in the garage. Like gasoline, and cars.), our dining room has been doubling as an office for Richard. In addition to his fine conversational skills and charming wit, Richard has books. Lots and lots and lots of books. And it's okay- I was aware of this when I married him. But the book ownership had taken a rather predictable turn, and Homeboy was out of bookshelves. And our dining room was beginning to look a little like something from Hoarders.

(Not an ACTUAL picture of our dining room. And perhaps an ever so slight exaggeration.)

So over Spring Break, I decided I could handle it no more and I went to IKEA (by myself) and purchased and loaded up boxes and boxes of bookshelves. I should also tell you that while there, my cart broke and I had to move the insanely heavy boxes from my original cart to a new cart. I am awesome.

So now our dining room looks like this.

It still looks cluttered, but is a vast improvement over the previous arrangement. Richard even has room to grow with several empty shelves.

And a small, but functional workspace where he is busy daily, creating works of genius.

So there you have it. Our new and improved dining room/office/book storage facility.

Spring Break Projects

Spring Break proved to be a time for me to do all the projects around the house that I've been thinking about, but have had no time for. Exhibit A: The patio.

This is what our patio looked like last summer.

Pretty nice, right? Peaceful, even. Now imagine that scene with all dead plants and pots full of dead snails intead. Slightly less peaceful, and perhaps even a bit disturbing. Due to the unique circumstances of our weather & patio locale (no rain, very sunny but not on our patio) added to the fact that I forgot to water the plants for 6 + months, our deck was a little sad. Okay, a lot sad.

I use the patio almost everyday when I get home as a place to decompress with a cup of tea and a book. Out chairs were really uncomfortable wire things that did not make you want to sit out there for very long.

So, about a month ago, I went to our local botanic garden and talked with them about the weird situation of our deck. It is basically a full-shade patio with the exception of a month or two in the summer when the deck gets about two hours of sun in the middle of the day. Plus, all the plants had to be able to live in containers. Plus, they had to be able to live if neglected for months at a time by their preoccupied owner. There were five plants that fit that description, and I bought them all.

The low tan planter appears to be full of dirt but actually contains wild California strawberries which should fill in the whole pot over time. We might eve get a few strawberries to eat if Charlie would stop eating the flowers.

The succulents were planted last summer and managed to survive (and even thrive) under my reign of neglect. Our new plants seem very happy in their sunless, waterless home.

We also got a new love seat for the patio which is a huge upgrade from the previous table and chairs situation.

It is very, very comfortable and nap-worthy. Our deck is now less of a snail-plant graveyard and a more restful place to relax and study. Wouldn't you like to come visit us so you could sit here, too?!

Sigh. Spring Break is over.

I will post an update soon with pictures of my Spring Break projects. For now, you can all be content that I'll be going to work every day next week just like the rest of you. Boo.

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to have more balance in my life. In this vein, I'm now attempting to be more of a "real person" and do more than just work, eat, and sleep. The result is that I am often more tired, but I feel a whole lot better about life in general and a whole lot more normal.

We have several sources that I check for free/cheap events in our local area, and I thought I'd share just in case any of you want to be real people, too! Though these are specific to the Claremont area, I'm sure there are similar things in your area.

1) Claremont Colleges Event Calendar One of the perks of being married to a perpetual student/professor-to-be is that we will always live in a college town. And colleges, especially awesome colleges, have great free or inexpensive events constantly going on during the school year. We have attended many lectures, concerts, arts events, and other events just by keeping tabs on the school's central calendar. Not all of the colleges' events make it onto this central calendar, but an awful lot do.

2) Our local NPR station's event calendar We love NPR, and we love NPR events. Last night we went to a StoryCorp listening events that knocked our socks off. NPR's calendar lists all kind of cool events, many of which actually have nothing to do with NPR. Some of the events are free, some are cheap, and some aren't so cheap.

3) City of Claremont's website Our town often makes Richard and I stop and say, "Wow. We live in AMERICA." We call it the Star's Hollow of the West. (I know many of you Texans are not believing that a town in California could love America, but there you have it.) The patriotic package is complete with events that could only happen in small-town America: parades, free concerts in the park, town barbecue, firefighter's pancake breakfasts. If you've seen it on TV in some small town, it happens in Claremont.

4) Groupon and LivingSocial You've probably heard of both of these sites, but the idea is you buy gift certificates to restaurants, services, and events at a huge discount. We've only actually bought one, but I like seeing what's going on in our area.

So there are my ideas, do you have any others?

Doheny State Beach

We took the opportunity of a warm (and completely free) Saturday to head to the beach today. We made sure to get there early so we could beat the crowds.... of which there were none.

We really like Doheny State Beach- I think it will be added to the list of favorite beaches. There was plenty of parking, close bathrooms, lots of sand, beautiful water, cool birds (pelicans!), and just enough interesting people to watch but not too many to be annoying.

Having spent many a day last summer at the beach, we are now pros at packing and getting out of the house in a timely manner.

And beach set-up 2011 is vastly superior to beach set-up 2010. We have an obnoxious new shade tent! I see many a beach day in our future...

It is statistically guaranteed that the closer you get to a holiday (or any sort of "break") in a high school, the crazier things get.

Spring Break is next week, so things are getting a wee bit crazy round these parts. But oh, I can make it. I keep having visions that look like this and pull me through the day.

I intend to spend all my time by the pool next week, except for the hour in which I will be getting a massage (courtesy of a Christmas present from Rich).

Rich will still have school, so that's a downer. Otherwise, blue skies ahead. 1.5 more days- I can do it!

Oh dear...

"I didn't go to tutoring because my probation officer didn't let me cause Im on house arrest."

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

The best recital ever

Last night, Rich and I were all set to go to a violin, viola, and piano faculty recital at the colleges. We arrived 10 or so minutes before it was scheduled to start and were shocked to find a line of college students about 20 people long.

"Wow," I commented to Rich. "I can't believe there are this many students at a classical music event. This must be, like, the best recital EVER."

We stood in line with the students, even more shocked to see guards with wands scanning each person who went inside.

"Man, they really take the no recording thing seriously here!" Richard joked.

The girl in front of us was wearing Party Rock glasses, and had a tattoo (fake, I think) that read, "Sorry for Party Rockin'!"

We made it through the metal detecting guards who asked us if we had any cigarettes in our pockets to the doors where they asked for our tickets.

"Tickets! We thought this was a free event."

We trouped over to the ticket booth where they told us the concert cost $30 per person. "For a faculty recital!" Richard scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me."

Turns out, there are TWO buildings called "Bridges"- one at Pomona College and one at Scripps College. And we were not, in fact, standing in line for the most rockin' faculty recital of our lives, but for a concert for a group called LMFAO. I'll give you a minute to go find them on YouTube.

We made it over to Bridges Hall, where we were greeted by a grad student handing out programs and a much grayer audience. There was no shuffling at the recital, but it was pretty awesome, nonetheless.

Edited to add: After reading this, Richard has kindly asked me to inform you all that BOTH Bridges are at Pomona College, not a Scripps College. When I asked him if that really mattered, he replied, "Well, yeah!" So all you fact checkers out there can breathe a bit easier now.

Hey! Look at a cute picture of us at a wedding last summer!

The one where I learn all about ankle monitors

I never knew I'd learn so very much about ankle monitors.

For example, did you know that for minors, ankle monitors are on timers? (This might be true for grown ups, too?) As in, from 8 am until 3:30 pm, the ankle monitor must be at school or else it goes off. And exactly at 3:30, the monitor must be on its way home or else it goes off. And it has to stay at home until 8 am the next day or else it goes off. I always thought house arrest meant house arrest.

So because of this timer issue, basically, if you are on house arrest, you can't stay after school for detention or tutoring without making special arrangements with your probation officer. Ironically, kids on house arrest are probably most in need of staying for tutoring and with the most detentions.

Also, it is most fashionable to wear ankle monitors with shorts and black socks, I guess so everyone can SEE your ankle bracelet.

Seemingly every urban high schooler knows (or at least claims to know) how to disable an ankle monitor. Not sure why the kid is still wearing the monitor if that is the case, but he will swear up and down that he could take it off if he wanted to. I guess they just wear it for kicks?

Finally, ankle monitors are run on batteries which are most likely to run out right in the middle of math class (this has happened TWICE in two weeks with two different kids!). It's official, America's justice system hates math.

So now you know.

Highlights

• This week, we bought a new (to us) car. It only took us about two hours, which was shocking to both Richard and me. As we sat in the CarMax cubicle signing the last papers, Richard whispered to me, "Wow. This IS the way car buying should be!"

• In other news, Richard got his black belt in Tae Kwon Do this week! So you should know, if you didn't think Richard could take you before, he can definitely take you now. Unless you're a black belt, too. Then it might be a little less one-sided.

• Finally, I fussed at a kid this week and embarrassed him in front of the whole class for what I thought was a cell phone going off repeatedly in class, but was actually a malfunctioning ANKLE MONITOR. They don't train you in how to deal with these things in your credential classes.

• Richard has Spring Break this week, but mine is in five more weeks (not that I'm counting or anything).

The one where Charlie learns to tell time.

Last night, Charlie and I had a talk.

"You are not to wake me," I said, "until this clock says seven-zero-zero." I held up my cell phone. "And when you wake me up, do not stand on my shoulder and put your cold nose in my face. It's not polite."

Charlie moaned (as he often does) and nosed his way under the covers.

He is turning into a bit of a pain in the neck, what with all the opinions and grumbling and waking me up at 4:00 am on a Saturday. He used to sleep until we woke him up- around 10 or 11, when I felt sure it was bordering on dangerous for him not to eat breakfast and go outside.

This morning, Charlie woke me up by standing on my shoulder and putting his nose in my face, as always. But imagine my surprise when I looked at the clock. It read 6:59. He almost made it, which is about all I can ask of a dog.

The one where we DON'T buy season passes to Splashtown

I am basically beside myself excited for summer. Lazy days at the pool, at the beach, and warm, warm weather. Evening concerts in the park, picnics, and day trips. Camping, hiking, and taking Charlie to the dog park. Rich and I are in the process of making our second annual summer list of things we want to do and accomplish this summer. And this year, we are actually going to put things on the calendar since we are much more likely to actually do these things if we have them on the schedule rather than relying on our spontaneity. Of which we have none. Because we are old, old farts. (I'd had a sneaking suspicion that we were old farts for a long time. This was confirmed at the Valentine's Dance, which we chaperoned at school on Friday night.)

Anyway, does anybody have any good suggestions for fun things we should do this summer? I'll be sharing our list soon, after we've finished formulating it.

The three questions I am asked most often by my students are:

1) Are you married?

2) Do you have kids?

3) How old are you?

No matter how many times I answer these questions, the kids either forget (pretty likely) or don't hear (also pretty likely), and so it seems as if the same students are asking these questions over and over again.

I have a picture of Rich and me on my desk, and the kids are totally fascinated by it. I don't know if it's the interracial thing or the shock of figuring out that I have a life beyond the school day or that I know people they don't know, but they are constantly asking me about that picture and who the handsome young man in the picture is.

Just the other day, a boy saw the picture while getting a Kleenex from my desk and asked, "Miss, is that your boyfriend?" (He sounded a bit incredulous, I might add.)

"No," I replied, "that's my husband."

"Wow!" he said. "He looks like a really cool guy."

"He is," I answered.

"I mean, he looks like he really likes basketball!"

"Uh.... okay?"

Here is that image, where it is clear that Richard is a huge sports fan.

Nothing says basketball-lover like a pair of khakis.

The one where we don't go camping

We were thinking of going camping this weekend to honor our dead presidents and the day they got us off from school. Trying to decide whereto go tonight, I pulled up the weather report only to see this:

California went and decided to have some weather after all. It is even supposed to rain in the MOJAVE DESERT this weekend. No camping for us, I guess. Maybe s'mores in the microwave instead?

This has been a banner weekend. For one thing, Rich and I finally got to meet our incredibly sweet and adorable niece, Lucy. She's two, so Rich and I officially win the worst aunt and uncle ever award. I did my best to convince her that I was her Aunt Richard and that Richard was her Uncle Sarah, but no dice--she mostly seemed confused about that. She did mention the bunny I made her for Christmas last year, so that was cool.

Rich and I also finally went hiking on the trail nearest our house- maybe a 5 minute drive? And holy crap. This is where we live.

This was taken on my camera phone, so really, it was about fifty times better in real life. The whole time we were hiking, I couldn't stop asking myself why we haven't bothered to go up there before.

And, my friends, that's where priorities come into play. Having limited time, resources, and energy means we are constantly making decisions on where to put that which we have. And sometimes, we make crappy decisions (like not meeting our awesome niece until she was two years old) and miss out on awesome things (like seeing this amazing view and enjoying how awesome the place we live is). So yeah. Once somebody (wise) told me that you can have anything, but you can't have everything. I think they were talking about money, but how true is that of the rest of life as well?