Friday

Aug. 27th, 2011 03:20 am
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
I slept last night--not very much, about five hours, but at least I slept.

I did not want to get up when the alarm went off at 7:15, but I had an appointment with my therapist in Rochester at 10 and it takes about an hour and a half to drive there from Ellendale...a long drive.

I had a couple crusts of  bread, toasted and spread with peanut butter.  I have not been eating much and yesterday I did not take any of my meds at all and I really NEEDED to take my morning meds today.

I did not have anything to drink with my toast, so I couldn't take the pills.

I pulled off Highway 14 at Kasson and picked up my atenolol prescription.  Then I went to Prairie Stone which is like a tiny little coffee shack which also makes good tea and smoothies.  I was going to have a pineapple smoothie and take my meds with it...however, I sat there for fifteen minutes waiting for the slow dipshit to serve the ONE and ONLY car in front of me.  Finally, I said "Screw it" and pulled around that car and left. 

I went through the drive through at Burger King and got an orange juice.  I doubt I waited more than ten seconds for it.  It was cheaper as well.  I was sooo thirsty that I sucked that puppy down and did not take the meds.

Even though the Prairie Stone kept me waiting, I got to my appointment 10 minutes early.  I had plenty of time to stop at the restroom to pee and then sit in the waiting room reading my book for a while.  This morning, I started the book AFTER again.  I started it once before but I just couldn't get "into" it as I was so freaking busy and over worked at school.  It is about what happens at a school after a killing rampage has occured at a nearby school.  It sounds very intriguing, and the writing is not bad. 

My therapist always offers me a Diet Coke or water when I see her, so I had a coke and took my meds with that.  I spent most of my time with her talking about how miserable I have been and how I just feel screwed and doomed.  I told her of my fears that the school would not give me health insurance and how my pre-existing conditions and obesity would prevent my being able to get other insurance.  She just kept shaking her head and telling me I did not deserve  this. 

She advised me to insist that Jay find a way to help me, since he got me into  this situation. 

I owed her $800 from previous appointments, so I used my health savings card to pay her $600.  There wasn't enough on it to pay the full amount.  She said not to worry about it.  Pay it when I had it.  I told her that this might be  the last time I saw her since I didn't think I would have medical insurance in September.  She showed herself to be a compassionate and caring individual when she said, "Don't worry about money.  You just come and see me when you need to."  I took that as an offer of free therapy...more or less.  And I was very touched by that gesture, after all that has been ripped away from me, to be given something was very touching.

Instead of telling me that things are going to get better and to think of all the kids whose lives I have touched (which has been making me want to attack and kill the people who say it), she told me my intense sadness was totally justified in lieu of everything I have lost since April.  She also agreed that it was nearly impossible to get disability...that the deny deny deny, hoping you will give up and go away.

She was horrified at the way that bitch from the TRA treated me also.

I ended up making another appointment for two weeks down the road.  I figured since she was kind enough to offer, I would be gracious enough to accept.

From there I went to ROC.  I talked to Jay for nearly two hours, and I cried a lot.  I had a whole pocket full of drenched kleenexes when I left.  I had made some unwise (but 100% true) comments on facebook that someone had told him about.  Basically, what I said was that life was so unfair and cruel that I didn't feel it was worth it.  This was not a suicide threat...it was just simply what I was feeling at the time.

He asked about it and I told him that I honestly felt that I would be better off dead, which pissed him off.  But it is true.  I didn't say I WANTED to be dead.  I just said that I felt I would be better off dead.  At least I wouldn't be in such a hopeless situation.  I told him how I felt trapped and hopeless.  The whole situation with TRA is a massive Catch 22 clusterfuck.  They are definitely NOT on my side.  They definitely do NOT give a shit what happens to me.  The whole attitude I got from that bitch on the phone was "Sucks to be you! Ha ha ha!"  I enumerated my losses for him--my job, my home, my furniture, including my antiques and family herilooms, my independence, my income, my purpose for living...and more...

I feel like I am already dead.

My corpse is just still wandering around uncertain of how to BE dead.

I told him I felt doomed and that I felt I would not get insurance coverage from the school--and without insurance I WOULD die, whether I wanted to or not. 

He listened and we talked...he yelled at me about saying I felt I would be better off dead.  He said that was bullshit...well, not really.  He told me people were worried about me and that he was worried about me...and I said, "I am worried about me too--worried about how I am going to survive!"

He told me I should "give in" and try for the disability--that I should not listen to other people saying it would take two years...that I should find out for myself.  He said being on disability sounded "pretty good" to him and how he didn't understand how adamantly opposed I was to the idea.  I said that I didn't want to be nothing.  He said that I was the last person in the world who would be "nothing." 

We talked about all kinds of things related to my situation.  I was blunt and honest about the situation I find myself in.  He said he would help me.  He said he would talk to someone in the social services that would be able to tell him and then he would tell me what sorts of programs and support things were available to me. 

He was kind and supportive.  He said that we needed to talk more often...and that I needed to call him when I got into those fits of despair.  I told him how all alone I feel in this--and how cheated I feel. 

While I was in his office, I got a text from Jessica Cohran who asked when I would be in Rochester.  I texted her back and said I was in Jay's office at that very moment--so she said we should do lunch. 

At some point Jay opened the office door and a mob of excited kids came in squealing and obviously overjoyed to see me.  I got lots of hugs and it was good.  I talked to the kids for about an hour, They asked me how things were going and I said I was sad and that I missed them.  I cried a little and they cried a little  too.  One of them suggested I "kill the new teacher and take my job back."  I said that really wouldn't be fair as it was not HER fault that I didn't have my job.

I met her, by the way.  She poked her head in.  She is a tiny skinny little thing who looks like she is about 15.  I thought she was a new kid when I first saw her.  She looked so young, I am sure they are paying her diddly...in comparison to what they had to pay me.  I felt more sorry for her than resentful of her because all  the kids were bashing her to me.  Because I am THAT WAY, I told them to be nice to her and that it isn't her fault she isn't me.  And that every teacher has different ways of teaching and they couldn't expect her to teach like I did. 

The kids had to go back to class, and when Jessica came, we went to the Olde Country Buffet.  My knees hurt too much to run back and forth, so I didn't get my money's worth.  I was shocked that the lunch prices were so high--nearly $10....pennies away from it, in fact.  So, I had a plate of a really good pasta salad that I am going to try to copy.  It had penne, snow pea pods, celery, and either chicken or turkey cut up in it, and the dressing had dill in it.  I think I could make a similar salad if I got a carton of dill veggie dip and put all that stuff together.  It was so delicious, I could have eaten every morsel that was in the serving dish.  I also had a big thick slice of French bread.  When I had eaten that, I went back and got a seafood patty (which was okay but nothing to write home about) and a nice roasted chicken thigh.  That was it.

On the way back to school, Jessica wanted to stop at Dairy Queen.  So she had a strawberry shake and I had a banana malt. She told me her mom had seen the facebook conversation before I deleted it.  She said her mom had told her that she needed to call me up and go spend some time with me today...I thought that was so sweet that her mom cared like that.

When I got back to school, I visited with Nora, Kim, and Ray.  Nora is such a wonderful person.  She and I had a really wonderful chat.  The first thing Nora said to me when she saw me was, "You've lost weight!"  I wore my "Bad Kitty" homeroom T-shirt today--and it had been really quite tight this spring when I wore it to ROC Jam, but today when I put it on, it was loose.  I noticed it, but didn't think too much of it until Nora said something.  Then I thought, well, YEAH!  I have lost weight--mainly because Mom and I do not eat much.  I need to get over the feeling of not being entitled to use the kitchen and to start cooking.  I don't mind losing weight--in fact I am very glad to lose a little!  Or a lot!!  But I do need to eat a little better than I have been.

I talked to Jay a while again before I left--and he wants me to come in often to touch base with the kids.  "They need to see you," he said, "And you need to see them."  I believe this is true because I felt so much better emotionally speaking after I had seen and talked to and laughed with and hugged my kids.  It was as if I got energized through them.  It was so cruel to take us away from each other.  Jay and I hugged good-bye and he told me again that he loved me.  And I  think he sincerely does love me...and I love him...but I still think it was cruel to do this to me, especially when I was so close to being able to retire with full benefits.

All day long I was sooo thirsty.  So I stopped in Byron at the DQ and got a large iced tea with extra ice.  I slurped that sucker down all the way home.  I called DeAnn who was on her way back from having lunch with her mom and aunt.  We had talked about getting together but I was like completely emotionally FRIED, and she had also had a busy day.  So we talked about the possibility of doing something on Saturday.  The only issue is that now I have very little money...I had thirty bucks when I left home this morning...but somehow I ended up paying for Jessica's shake.  Not sure how that happened.  So, our two shakes were $7 something.  The orange juice I bought on the way to Rochester was $1.50.  Old Country Buffet was nearly $10.  The iced tea was a couple of bucks. 

Then, when I was almost to Dodge Center I called my mom who has been sick as a dog with a terrible cold for the last few days and asked her if she wanted me to bring home supper.  She said, "If you want to."  I asked her what she was hungry for and she said anything.  I suggested Taco Johns, and she approved.  So, I got her a super beef burrito and myself just a regular beef burrito with black olives and sour cream.  I got a medium potato ole as well.  That cost over $8.  So, fundamentally, my money is gone.  Since I borrowed $20 from Mom this morning, I would feel really guilty about borrowing from her again already tomorrow.  I will have around $500 coming in from unemployment soon...but still. 

If DeAnn and I do something tomorrow, I will have to empty out my piggy banks and pay for it in change.  Fortunately, I do have that movie pass from Jack and Kari for taking care of their kitties.  So if we go  to a movie, I can get in free.  I have been really really hungry for that orange chicken at Applebys.  I had actually planned to go there and have that while mom was up at Tammy's, but I just never got around to it.

I've been hungry for Famous Dave's ribs too, but it's so expensive there.  Cuz if I eat there, I MUST have their delicious bread pudding!!!!

When I got home, mom and I ate our burritoes in the living room as we watched the news about how they are having a mandatory evacuation of Long Island.  Scary.  My feet were hurting from wearing shoes all day, so after we ate, I went downstairs to take off my shoes and see my kitties.  I was really tired, so I lay on the bed and dosed a bit.  Then I farted around on the computer a while, trying to get through the 5,000 emails I am behind on.  Then I was so tired that I went to bed.  Stewie crawled under the covers and snuggled with me for a very long time while I rubbed his head and his toe pads.  Then I woke up to pee and figured I better write up my daily entry before the memories went fuzzy on me.

It was good to get out of the house and among people again.  I do often feel trapped here.  I am used to just getting in the car and going whenever I feel like it.  Here, I feel like I can't.  I don't know why I feel this way...I just do.



chochiyo_sama: (Default)

I have been working my way through the pile of "stuff" on my desk, and i am feeling better about it.  Most of the issue was just getting everything sorted into piles--then working my way through the stack.

Jay came in  to talk to my third hour class today about the behavior on Thursday last week.  (Jay was out sick himself Thursday and friday.)

He is so good with the kids.  He talked to them about how we are different from other schools because we trust the kids.  We give them a million chances to prove themselves trustworthy.  Almost all of them prove themselves worthy of that trust.  Some "get it" sooner than others--but most of them get to the point where they understand this sooner or later.

He told the story of Sam who was murdered in a driveby the summer before I started teaching here.  Sam was a kid who was heavy into gangs in California who had to leave there because there was no chance for him to make a better life for himself in California.  there was too much 'history' for him to overcome.  So he came here. 

In the old building, the door to the store was easy to get to open, even if it was locked.  All you had to do was rattle the door knob.  Well, one day when Jay went in there, the money was gone out of the cash box.  He talked to all the kids about the issue and asked anyone who had any information to chat with him about it.

A while later, Sam came into his office, dropped a wad of bills on his desk and said, 'I took it.  It was a temptation i couldn't resist--old habits die hard."  then he put his binder on Jay's desk--thinking he'd get expelled for stealing.  Jay said, "What are you doing?"

Sam said, "You can't trust me anymore."

Jay said, "Dude.  you just proved that we CAN trust you.  You brought it all back."

Later, Jay put him in charge of collecting the money for the sweatshirts they were ordering as a fund raiser.

jay said, "In all his short life, Sam never had anyone who trusted him--and we did.  That was huge for him."

Then suddenly, Jay choked up and got tears in his eyes--which of course, made me choke up and get tears in my eyes.  So we both kept looking at each other and getting more and more teary eyed.  Finally i tossed him the box of kleenex and i turned to grab one from my other box. 

He said, "I can do this....but I can't look at Cheryl." 

i said, "I can't look at you either."

So then he went on with his little speech about how we trusted them.  When there are no subs available, and often  there are not, we trust them to be on their own in the rooms and do what they are supposed to be doing.

It was a very good bonding experience for all of us.

I am so damn proud to work here.  I am so humbled that I was chosen for this wonderful place.  And of course, i love Jaymar and all our sweet kids.  even when they are naughty, i still love them."

The difference this school makes in kids' lives is HUGE--shoot, the difference it makes in MY life is huge.

That is all.
chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Sadly, I didn't have my camera for the morning festivities when I gave out the stockings.  The kids seemed to like their stockings quite well.  There is something magical about a Christmas stocking.  And I do love stuffing stockings. 

Drew went through the contents of his stocking during 3rd hour, and he and Brooke S put his "mini puzzle" together.  Brooke yanked his chain by hiding one piece so that Drew howled, "This is skimp!  It's missing a piece."  Then, when he had suffered enough, Brooke laughed evilly and pulled the missing piece out of her mitten. Kids.  LOL.

The day went really quickly.  My homeroom had agreed to go to HuHot for lunch.  HuHot is a Mongolian grill.  You get to load up your plate with raw stuff then watch as they cook it on a giant round grill.  Tyler had never been there before, so it was a new experience for him.  I was disappointed because both Drew and April said they were coming, but neither did.  :(  Zach had to work, Falisha had "better things to do," and Ellie had gone on vacation the day before.  So, it was just me, Tyler, Rachael, and Cody.  It made it cheaper for me, but it just isn't the same if the whole homeroom isn't there. 

Eh.  Since Drew and April didn't show, we were able to order a couple of appetizers.  We had crab rangoons and something similar with shrimp in it.  Both were yummy.

I made the best plate of food I have ever made today.  It had mostly beef with a little chicken in it, noodles, peas, LOTS of mushrooms, zucchini, onions, peas, and bamboo shoots.  I put the ginger and garlic sauces and broths on it for seasonings.  It was sooo good.

Also, Cody was so sweet.  I had been circling the parking lot for ten minutes without luck at finding a parking space.  FInally I called Cody on my cell and told them to go ahead and get started as I was going to have to park far away and it would take me a while to gimp over to the restaurant with my rotten knee and the slippery parking lot.  That sweetpea told me that he would go park my car so I didn't have to walk so far.  What a good kid. 

After we ate, he went and got it again  for me. 

We ran into Ryan G, Cody D and Chubbs at the mall.  Chubbs had cut his hair and I seriously did not recognize him!  He looked like he was about ten years old.

I DID have my camera at the restaurant, so here are my pictures.  (I didn't take too many)



Rachael, Tyler, and Cody.  Aren't they adorable?  Tyler was being too cool to smile.  He has a very nice smile but I guess he preferred to look glum today.



Here are Tyler and Cody with their plates of food.  Tyler is a sweetheart and a hard worker--even when no one else helps, he always takes the chairs down in the morning and puts them up again in the afternoon.  Cody is a sweetpea.  I already told you how kind he was to me earlier.



And here are me and Rachel.  I am holding up a crab rangoon.  Rachael was afraid she couldn't have lunch with us because she had an appointment at 10:30, but she met us there, and it was all good.  Rachael is also the sweetest girl.  She has a sly and clever sense of humor. 

So, even though the rest of my homeroom were party poopers, we had fun and a great meal together.

I wish I were wealthy enough to take them to JenPachi before the end of the school year.  That is the Japanese steak house where you sit around the grill and the food is cooked in front of you.  And that food is also fantastic.  

I went back to school and told Jay about our fun time.  He said I was free to go if I wanted, but I said I wanted to get my correcting caught up so I didn't have to take anything home over Christmas vacation.  Jay, sweet thing that he is, came down after a while and told me I should go home because it was cold out, but I knew he wanted to go do his final Christmas shopping, so I told him to just go ahead.  I could stay till the cleaning crew was done and lock up behind them.

 The cleaning crew leader, a sweet woman, came down at about 3:30 and told me that Jay had told her they needed to kick my butt out of the building when they were finished.  I told her I would go as soon as I shut down my computer.  I did stay half an hour longer, though, to finish up what I was working on.  I got all my little odds and ends papers corrected along with this week's vocabulary.  All I have left is four Green Mile compositions for Misfits class, a Ghost Hunting citing practice paper for Senior Sem, and a few short paragraphs from my Writing Skills class.  We are working on the "Developing a paragraph through Definition and Explanation" now.  It is the final method of developing we will do.  Next we will work on writing a five-paragraph paper.  The poor kids....they are doooooomed.

Anyhow, I packed up my crap and left by 4 pm.  I stopped in Kasson to pick up gift certificates at the theater for my secret santa, Jesse.  He and his family live in Kasson, so he will be able to use those conveniently.  I'm going to buy a 12-pack of diet coke for him in the morning when I fill up with gas too. 

Basically, that's my day. 

I'm ready for bed now.  I'm tired.

chochiyo_sama: (Default)
Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster at school again.

At the end of 4th hour, Steve came and told me that Lisa's mom was there to see me. I groaned inwardly because it was the END of 4th hour, which is my prep. 5th hour I have my seniors, and there are a couple of them in there who cannot work without the threat of death hanging over their heads. And Lisa's mom tends to be a rambler....

Well, I ended up spending all but about ten minutes down in the board room with her. She told me some very hard news. She's about the most unhealthiest looking woman I've ever seen. She only comes up to my shoulder, is scrawny as a rail, and always has large bluish pouches under her eyes. She can barely walk--it takes her five minutes to get across the hallway.

Poor thing.

Anyhow. She told me that she had been in and out of the hospital this week and that her health issue was acting up. I don't know what the heck her health issue is, she told me, but it was a $15 word. Something is messed up with the fluids in her body. For some reason, they are making her organs solidify. She told me she had asked her doctor to let her know when her time was about up as she had children and grandchildren she needed to prepare for that.

Well, this week they told her there was nothing more they could do for her--and to get her affairs in order.

Her biggest concern is Lisa, who is a senior. Lisa is a sweet, quiet, hard-working girl--but she is very slow--not stupid. Just slow to comprehend and s-l-o-w to get things done.

She was treated badly in her old school--bullied and tortured and teased--until she had no self-esteem left. Now that she's been a R.O.C. for over a year, she's bloomed. She is truly a beautiful person, and the other kids love her.

Her mom wants to get her moved into Rochester and settled before she dies. She wants to make sure Lisa can keep going to school at R.O.C. "She won't graduate unless she goes here," her mom said. "She'll never go back to that other place."

The mom asked me not to tell the other teachers all of this yet--she doesn't want everyone "hovering" over Lisa as that would make Lisa uncomfortable. She just wanted me to know so that I could keep an eye on her--be able to see if this stuff was overwhelming her.

I told her I had to tell Jay (my boss, the administrator), and that I would like to tell the counselor and Lisa's Special Ed Case Workers. And she said it was okay.

I told Jay at lunch. I also told him that if worse came to worse and Lisa had no place to go (dad is not in the picture and siblings all live too far away for Lisa to be able to come to school at R.O.C.), she could come and live with me for the rest of the school year and commute with me to school.

Jay called me a "sweet thing" and asked me, "If anything happens to Vickie..." (Vickie is his beautiful, intelligent, darling wife. Heh heh...God FORBID anything happen to her until she is at least 102.) But what a compliment! Jay is the most wonderful man I've ever known. He LOVES those kids. LOVES them. As if they were his very own.

I've never met anyone else in the world, ever, who shares my philosophies of education as completely as Jay does. And I am lucky enough to have him for my boss--and my friend.

Life is good.

Despite the fact that I paid bills yesterday, put them in the mail, then remembered last night at around midnight that I had forgotten to allow for the electronic withdrawl of my housepayment. ARG. I know i have a bit of a cushion "hidden" in my checkbook....but....I don't know if it is enough to cover the WHOLE housepayment. Which means, an over draft. Which means, a finance charge.

It is so fucking disgusting to be so fucking poor all the time.

:(

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