2013 in Review

I just skimmed through my blog titled 2012: A Year in Review and saw some of my plans for 2013. Here they were:

-Atlantic City for 2 nights, 3 days during my February vacation.
-Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio in late June or Early July
-7-day cruise to Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport in August
-LESS trips to Turning Stone
-More trips to the gym and hopefully less food consumed overall...
-More focus on reading, writing, and being productive at nights after work
-My grocery store book will be published sometime this year
-Pushing harder than ever to get a teaching job anywhere
-To live life without thinking about, "What if I did (such and such) differently?"

I did go to Atlantic City and had an amazing time. I did not go to Cedar Point because instead I went to North Carolina for a job fair and was unsuccessful in getting a job in that part of North Carolina. I went on my 7 day cruise and had an incredible time as always. According to my records, I went to Turning Stone 8 times in 2012 and 7 times this year. Yay, I was successful in going to Turning Stone less this year, haha. I was really good about going to the gym this year. I went three times a week very often with the exception of summer where I never went but instead I played a lot of tennis. Unfortunately, I consumed a lot of food. However, I am about 6 pounds lighter this year at this time than I was last year at this time. I published my grocery store book in February and finished writing my 3rd "The Teacher That..." book last month. I will have that out some time in 2014. I definitely pushed myself harder than ever to get a teaching job and was successful on December 11. Yes, I got that job in a completely different state than New York. Because of that, I definitely don't have to live my life thinking, What if I didn't accept that job? or What if I didn't see the Facebook post from my friend and email my resume to the principal? 2013 was a pretty good year overall. I really haven't thought about my goals for 2014. I finally have my teaching job and will start on January 21. That was always my goal since 6th grade. I have no idea if I'll stay in North Carolina or look for teaching jobs in New York for next school year. I can definitely see me loving North Carolina. I'll take each day one day at a time and see what happens with 2014. Keep shooting for your dreams and take risks. You will never know unless you try!

Frost on Inside of Car

Nothing is more annoying than getting frost on the inside of your car windows. In the cold, it's normal to get frost on the outside of the windows. It's not normal to get it on the inside. It happens to my car all of the time. It's impossible to get off. You can't scrape it off because it doesn't work very well at the awkward angle you are trying to get it off in. When you put the defroster on, it gets the ice off from the outside only. Once it gets warmer out during the day, I can see the frost from the inside of my back window melting. It turns into water inside my car. I take a towel and dry it off. I have no idea how to prevent frost from happening on the inside. Good thing the low temperature won't be -9° later this week. Oh wait... Have I mentioned I can't wait to move to North Carolina?

Last Day

Today was my last day working at the grocery store! I hope it's my last day ever. Unfortunately, I can't say that for sure though because I've seen so many people quit that store and then come back. I do not want to pull a Brett Favre or Michael Jordan and retire and come back and retire and come back. I can't tell you how good of a feeling it was to swipe my card to punch out for the last time at 12 today. Relief was the first emotion. I'm sure the reality of not working at the grocery store won't hit until next Sunday when I don't get up at 6:25AM to go to the store to work. Then it will hit again when I'm in North Carolina doing nothing on Sundays. I can't believe I worked there for 10 and a half years! It was the first job I ever had. I'm so glad it's over with!

Racino

I went to the Racino that's about 25 minutes from me for the second time ever yesterday. The first time I went was on my 18th birthday. They carded my then 20 year old brother but not me. We found that hilarious. I broke exactly even yesterday. The Racino only has slot machines. I'm not into slots at all. It's too boring for me and is 100% luck. I much prefer poker and other table games. That's why I don't go to the Racino. Naturally they are trying to get that to be a full casino now that I'm leaving the state! Oh well.

Put it on my Tab

I have a new phrase that I will probably say a lot between now and the time I move. "Put it on my tab." My credit card is going to get quite a workout. I am moving to North Carolina with absolutely nothing besides my clothes. When I get down to North Carolina, I have to buy furniture, pots and pans, silverware, food, and everything under the sun. It's going to be very expensive. I just got my credit card bill today and cried. It accounted for two separate flights to North Carolina and my round trip flight to Las Vegas that I already cancelled. I'm not getting that money back. I only have a credit to use on Southwest for a future flight. I went shopping today and bought a few things and just added it to my tab. I bought stuff yesterday and my mom used her credit card because this place wouldn't take Visa cards. How weird is that? I cringe to think about what my credit card bill is going to be next month. I gotta do what I gotta do. I'll just keep putting everything on my tab.

iPhone 5S

I have officially moved up in the world. After having my iPhone 3GS for 3 and a half years, yes you read that correctly, I am now the proud new owner of an iPhone 5S. I can finally say I have the newest piece of technology. My Macbook Pro is well over 4 years old and only running Snow Leopard. My Kindle is I think 2 years old. I don't typically care to have the latest and greatest invention. This phone will probably be obsolete in September when the iPhone 6 comes out but that's okay with me. The only reason I have the 5S now is because when I was hired to teach in North Carolina, my moms exact words were, "I'm making you get an iPhone 5S now that you have a job in North Carolina." Okay mom, twist my arm. Her logic, as always, makes no sense. Obviously she made me pay for it. Whatever. The point is that I finally have a new phone after having my old one for 3 and a half years.

Prime Rib

Every Christmas we go over to my aunts house and have dinner. Every year we have prime rib and twice baked potatoes. We typically have a ziti like pasta with sausage and meatballs dish too. I don't think I've had better prime rib than I had today. It was so flavorful! The twice baked potatoes and pasta were amazing too. To top it off, we had literally 10 different desserts to choose from. The entire meal was absolutely amazing. I think I'm going to be full until at least Friday. And by Friday, I mean tomorrow morning I'll be starving. I am definitely hitting up the gym tomorrow to work off 500 or so calories, or one bite of dessert I ate today. God I love food!

The Mighty Ducks

We broke our Christmas Eve tradition this year. We did not watch a VHS. We watched a DVD. However, we watched a very popular film from when I was a little kid, The Mighty Ducks. That is one thing we do on Christmas Eve, watch old movies from our childhood. This movie is a typical Disney sports film. It's a classic. Whenever I make references to it at school, none of the kids know what I'm talking about! It makes me very sad. I remember we watched this movie with the kids in summer camp about 7 years ago. None of the kids enjoyed it but the counselors did. I don't understand how kids now know the movie The Sandlot but not The Mighty Ducks. They are both classic sports movies from when I was a kid. I think next year we are going to watch Little Giants. This was shockingly my moms suggestion. She is someone who hates football and hates most movies. Interesting. I love our Christmas Eve tradition that's been going on for five years already.

Jury Duty

I kept saying that I've never been summoned to jury duty. That all changed today. I got a letter stating that I need to report to court on January 6, 2014. Where will I be that day? Naturally I will be in North Carolina looking for a place to live that day. Tomorrow, I have to write a letter to the court stating that I'll be out of state because I'm moving. Hopefully that will be a good enough reason to miss court that day. It's town court not county. Therefore it should be easier to get out of. We will see!

Book Three Put on Hold

Do you remember my blog post titled "Long Day Again"? I told you I'd explain why it was a long day. Now is that time. On Friday, December 6, I saw a Facebook status of one of my friends from college. He got a teaching job in North Carolina. He said there were still teaching positions open. I emailed my resume to the principal Sunday the 8th. He called me Monday the 9th and asked when I could get down for an interview. I asked him if I could interview through phone or Skype but he said no. I booked my flight that night for Wednesday the 11th. My flight was at 6:20AM. I got to the school at about 12, had my "interview", and he hired me an hour later. Then I went to Human Resources to fill out paper work, the doctors to take a drug test, and then back to the airport to catch my flight home. I got home at about 10:30. I went to North Carolina and back in one day. That's why it was a long day! On my flight home, I had 905723087 things going on in my head. I was freaking out thinking about if I was going to take this job and move my life down south. It came down to one simple question. If I don't take this teaching job, will I regret it for the rest of my life? Yes. Therefore, I accepted the job as a 1st grade teacher at an elementary school in Shannon, North Carolina. You haven't heard of Shannon? Of course you haven't because the population is about 300 people! However, it's in Robeson County, which has about 40 schools and 25,000 kids. I plan to live in or near Fayetteville, North Carolina. I will be moving down on Monday, January 20 and starting school the next day. Because of all of this, I am not worrying about editing my book for a long time. My first priority is having a successful move. My next priority is getting settled in and caught up with what I need to teach. Once everything settles down, I'll jump back into editing my book. I have no plans on when I'll publish it. I am not mad at all that my book won't be published in January like I had originally planned. Getting a teaching job is a good reason to put the project on hold. It will be published when it gets published. After 5 years of searching and searching, I am finally about to start a job in the field that I went to college for!

Cheese and Crackers

Is there a better snack than cheese and crackers? Absolutely not! The cracker doesn't matter to me. I can have Triscuits, Ritz, Saltines, whatever. The best cheese to have with cheese and crackers is extra sharp cheddar. There's no other way to do it. The rich flavor of that cheese is out of this world. I can eat this snack everyday and never get bored. Throw some peperoni in there to kick it up a notch. It's always a fan favorite. If you don't like cheese, then you are one strange person, like my mom.

Gifts From Students

As a Computer Aide, I typically don't get gifts from students around Christmas time. I might get a card or two. Sometimes I get a little bit of candy. Teachers are the ones that get a ton of gifts. This year was different. I received four gifts from kids.I know that 4 out of 450 isn't a lot. It's still nice of them though. One kid gave me chocolate covered pretzels. Another kid gave me these mini Belgian waffles which were amazing. Another kid gave me chocolates. The most unexpected and shocking gift was a $20 gift card to Panera. I cannot believe this kids parents spent $20 on me. That's a lot to spend on an aide. I wonder what they got his 4th grade teacher. The best part of that gift was the note he wrote. "I want your books from Santa this year." How awesome is that? I was overwhelmed and very thankful for the gifts I received from my students this year!

Ugly Sweaters

It's amazing how popular ugly sweaters are now. The only time people where them is around Christmas time. People have ugly sweater parties quite often. I wonder if the people who make these sweaters know they are ugly. They must. No one in their right mind would wear some of the sweaters that are out there unless they are doing it for an ugly sweater party. I do not own an ugly sweater, or any sweater for that matter. I don't plan on buying one for a party anytime soon either.

Cleaning off the Car

Cleaning off snow from the car is always fun. After a big storm, it amazes me when I see so many cars that are still covered in snow on the road. They scrape off just enough to see out the front window and maybe a little bit from the back. I don't get it! When I clean my car off, I take everything off. I even get the roof even though it's hard to reach. If I don't get all of the snow off of the roof, it will fall onto the back window and I won't be able to see. I'm a bad driver as it is. I don't need anything else blocking my view. I understand not getting the roof on the big SUV's and stuff. However, you should be able to clean off everywhere else. You people are the reason there are so many accidents! You can't see!

Trivia Championship

I have gone to trivia at Applebee's pretty much every Wednesday for over a year now. For about 14 weeks, we were in a league at our local Applebee's. The top 4 teams in that time advanced to the championship against other locations. That took place yesterday. My team got 4th in our league and we advanced. 12 teams competed yesterday. Going into the last question, we were in 10th or 11th. You can answer the last question and double your entire score if you are correct. You will lose all of your points if you are wrong. You will stay at the same score if you don't turn in an answer. 1st place yesterday was $150, 2nd was $75, and 3rd was $50. They showed a picture of someone's eyes and we were pretty sure we knew the answer because we thought we had that question before. We decided to risk it since we were so far behind. We were the only team to get it correct. We tied for 3rd. Then there was a tiebreaker. They asked what year a movie came out. We were closer than the other team so we got 2nd place and $75! Since we had seven of us, we each got $10 and threw in $5 extra for a tip. I was shocked we did so well considering we don't typically do well at our location. We will go back to our regular game tomorrow and see where we end up!

Energy Drinks

I'm not a fan of energy drinks. They typically have way too many calories and sugar. I have had the 5 hour energy drink before because it has few calories and no sugar. I feel like that stuff is psychological. I don't normally feel any different after drinking them. Today when I left the gym, they had free samples of some energy drink. I drank some when I got home. Again, I don't feel any different. The drink had a strong watermelon flavor. That's the flavor I chose. It said I should have drank some before I worked out. Oh well. I can't believe people drink that stuff all of the time. It's probably really bad for you, as is pretty much everything these days. It's definitely something I won't drink very often at all.

Stuck

We got about 11 inches of snow from yesterday into this morning. We haven't had a storm that bad in probably three years. Yes, we have had snow the last couple of years. We haven't had more than maybe 8 inches at a time though. We have been lucky. I had to work at the grocery store this morning at 7. I got up at 6 to shovel. I have a huge driveway. I knew I had to shovel my side out or I'd be stuck. I was somehow able to do it in 30 minutes and drive to work. I got to the bottom of my street and then got stuck because it wasn't plowed well. I had to call my dad to get a shovel and shovel me out. I was still somehow able to get to work on time. That's one of the many reasons that I cannot stand snow.

Organized Mess

I'm looking at my desk right now and see nothing but papers, envelopes, and books scattered all over the place. That's what the top of my dresser looks like too. However, I can find anything I need from that mess because I know exactly where everything is. There are also clothes thrown all over my floor. It's odd that I am a very organized person yet my room is such a mess. I think I'll make it a goal during my 2 weeks off from work to clean my room!

Editing

Editing is not easy. I edited the first 10 chapters of my book numerous times. Once NaNo started, I edited a few chapters after writing them, then stopped doing that altogether. I focused on the writing. Once NaNo was over, I edited all of the chapters I wrote during NaNo. Then I started editing my book from the beginning again. I am still finding grammar errors and words I typed wrong even though I edited a lot. I sent the book to my mom. She picked up mistakes that I still missed again! It's very frustrating but very obvious to me that more than my four eyes need to look at my book. Our minds are trained to read the book the way we want it to sound. After reading it many, many times, the mind won't pick up mistakes. That's why I'm happy I have sent it to a few people to edit.

Seat Belts

Putting a seat belt on when I get into a car is automatic to me. I hear all of the time that people get into crashes and get seriously injured because they didn't have their seat belts on. I hear that people refuse to put it on because it's uncomfortable. My advice to you is to get over it. Even if I am moving my car from one part of the driveway to the other, my hand automatically goes to my belt. It doesn't bother me. I've been in many accidents. I have yet to be injured. Why? Because my seat belt was on! You should really wear a seat belt when you're in the car.

Long Day Again

I know I've already written my thoughts about the phrase, "It's been a long day." You all know I don't like the phrase. However, today is the exception to the rule. It has been a tremendously long day. You will find out why at another time. Good night!

Cards With Glitter

I am not a big fan of greeting cards that have glitter all over them. When I grab a card like that, I get glitter all over my hands. That stuff never comes off. At the grocery store, I have no choice but to touch those cards so that I can scan them. I refuse to buy glittery cards for that reason. I don't want glitter on my hands and I don't want the person I'm sending the card to to have glitter on their hands. There's my random rant of the day.

Bands

I don't know how bands do what they do for as long as they do. I don't know how they perform at concerts night in and night out. How do they have their voices each night? How are they not deaf? Every concert is extremely loud. The speakers they have so everyone can hear are huge. The put a ton of effort into singing each night. Although they use microphones, they still have to sing very loudly and with lots of energy. Some bands perform hundreds of times in a year. How do they not get exhausted and/or sick? It's a grind. They work tremendously hard all of the time. I just don't understand how they can perform at that level for many, many years. It's truly amazing and I have so much admiration for them.

Licking Your Fingers

Does anyone else find it gross when you see people lick their fingers to do anything? I see it all of the time when people come to the grocery store. They lick their fingers to get a grip on their money. They lick their fingers to open a bag. I have to admit, when the bag won't open, I very lightly lick my fingers to get a grip on the bag. I barely put them in my mouth because my fingers are gross from touching all of the food and money at that point. What if you shake someone's hand after you lick your finger? I am also touching the customers produce and other raw food at times. It's gross to think about. I have wipes at my register at all times and use them often. I try to keep my hands as clean as possible before I touch someone's groceries. Between working at a grocery store and working with kids who are always coughing and sneezing, I try to keep my hands as clean as possible.

Popcorn

Everyone loves popcorn, right? I love popcorn besides the fact that it always gets stuck in my teeth. Popcorn is great to eat in the movie theaters or at a concert but nowhere else. When it gets stuck in your teeth, then you're left making that noise that sounds like your clearing your throat so that it gets out of your mouth. You always get that shell stuck in your tooth. What do you do then? If you're around people you can't just stick your hand in your mouth to pick at it, right? Then when you're trying to get it from the back of your mouth you start making faces to get it out. That's a pretty look. Popcorn tastes delicious but the aftermath is not fun!

Snow

Who likes snow? I know a lot of people like it. I'm not one of those people. The only way I like snow is if I get a snow day. I don't like shoveling it. I can't stand driving in it. I'm more worried about other drivers in the snow than I am myself. I should move to Florida where there isn't any snow. Although I know last year or the year before there was snow in I believe 48 states including Hawaii! That's crazy! I don't ski or snowboard so snow does nothing but annoy me. Tis the season!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

TSO came to town last year and my friends went. I told them I didn't want to because I didn't want to spend the money, I don't like orchestra, and I don't like Christmas music. I do like their one song they play in the commercials with the Christmas lights on the houses. Other than that, I don't know their music. They said the show was amazing and that I had to go this year. I went today even though it cost more money than last year. You don't have to like Christmas music to go to this show. It's so much more than orchestra too. It's mainly drums, piano, guitar, and bass with one or two violins thrown in there. Let me tell you something. This group can put on a show! The light show was amazing. They had fire shooting up in many songs. Their stage moved up and down. Thy were full of energy. It was one of my favorite shows ever! It was well worth the money. They played for two and a half hours straight. Bands don't typically play that long anymore. We even stayed in line at the end of the show and get their autographs. I highly recommend you go see TSO in concert!

Music vs. Talking

Whenever I do work on my computer, whether it be at home or at school, I have to have music playing in the background. I don't care if it's my iTunes, iHeart radio, or YouTube. I need something going on while I do my work. I can't have silence. It's too quiet for me. However, if there are people talking in the background, I can't focus. My mind focuses on the conversation happening. It's strange that I can focus with music happening in the background but not when people are talking. My newspaper club students like listening to music while writing (even though they blast it through their headphones and everyone can hear it). I told them I had no problem with it. However, they talk a lot too. I have no idea how they can focus while listening to music, talking, and typing. I guess everyone's different. I would not have been able to write this post if music weren't playing right now.

Arcade Games

I went to Dave and Buster's in the mall the other day with my friends. It just opened a month or two ago. It's a very large arcade/sports bar. It's just like any other arcade. You buy coins or credits to play arcade games, you play the games and collect tickets, then you redeem your tickets for lame toys. I'm not a fan of wasting money to play games to try to win some toy that will break in five minutes. I know, I know people think going to the casino as much as I do is a waste of money and at least I could get something by playing arcade games. Going to the casino is normally a waste of money. However, I could also walk home with more money than I started with. With arcade games, you are losing money and paying more for a toy you can get for much cheaper somewhere else. Everyone has their own opinions about arcade games and casinos though. One prize they had was the PS4. You had to get 105,000 tickets to get that. I bet it will take well over the $500 or so it would cost you for a PS4 to earn 105,000 tickets at the arcade. Kids don't think about that when they play. Parents just give them money so they can have fun. I understand that. It's the price of entertainment. It's just not my idea of a good way to spend money. I know, it's ironic that I'd rather blow it in a casino. I get it. That's just one man's opinion.

Another Book Reading

My school's PTA sponsored an event at Barnes and Noble again tonight. They wanted many teachers to read at it. Last year, it wasn't advertised much at all. This year, it was very advertised in our school. There were very few people at it last year. This year, there were a ton of people. I still only read in front of about 10 kids this time as oppose to three last year. The 3rd graders sang a song just before I read and they all left after they sang. Another large group of kids were hanging out farther away from where I read. Oh well. I was happy to go there and read again and to support our PTA.

What Did the Fox Say?

If you are looking for the world's worst song and video, go to YouTube and type in What did the Fox Say? I unfortunately watched this video a few weeks ago. I have no idea what the point of it is. I don't understand why millions of people have watched this. I didn't watch it by choice. Someone showed it to me. Now I unfortunately have the song stuck in my head all of the time. I need to create a horrible song so that I can be famous on YouTube too.