Morning thoughts

Hola all! Or should I now say Olá! Leila Lopes is now Miss Universe 2011!! Congrats to Leila and her country Angola!! I'm so excited to see Black beauty appreciated, and given such a platform to further improve the world!

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In other thoughts, I have always had the theory that people who study psychology are themselves dysfunctional. And boy, I havent met someone who proved me wrong yet.

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Also, work wasn't so bad today. I told myself ... "hey ... after the morning classwork, only 2 hours of direct teaching left! And not really because parents start picking up at 3, and if i implement work stations that's an hour right there! Well, that is if the other teacher doesn't switch the kids on me again. I went from working with reading 4 year olds to tantrum throwing, non-listening 18 month olds. I really wanted to spend more time with the older kids to reinforce the earlier lesson and have them practice where I saw they were doing poorly. So next time I will let her know I have after school to do, because that is what I was hired for and I won't take the young kids. (They scream, poop, throw themselves on the floor, can barely talk, are obsessed with touching everything unsafe and going into corners.) I made sure to say I don't want to work with younger kids on the interview.

I also learned that parents want to hear something, anything about their kid at school that day. So lie. Lie, because even when you say "I'm not his/her teacher" they still look at you expectantly and re-ask the question "At what time did he pee himself?" or "Did she do well today? What did she learn?"

Lie, because you need money and so you probably want to keep your job, but the other teacher left and your employer can hear you. Lie and say "Oh yes, she did well! We taught her colors, and the alphabet, and numbers today!" Then you will be repaid for your kindness by the reply "Yes, we were in the car and I heard her counting so I know she must have gotten it from here." (It's a lie because you're not her teacher and only spent an hour with her, and while she did well, she would do better around the older kids.)

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Lesson of the day, make some time for yourself. I wake up at 7:20 to leave by 8:20 .... usually return by 7:30 - 8pm. That's time that I'm commuting and working, half my day. I need at least 7 hours of sleep, 6 is doable but makes me cranky. So that leaves me with 5 hours to myself, and I intend to use them studying or relaxing and talking to Alex. I find myself falling asleep around 9-10pm and waking at 3am then sleeping again around 5 ... so my hours are odd, but i will enjoy them anyway!

It's so sad that you have to sell your time to live. I heard one parent said they don't have time to help with the 1 page homework because they work ... I thought the point was to work so you can enjoy your life and family? It seems in this economy, so many people are working just to pay bills and provide. It makes me re-evaluate what is important.

I think the most important thing, is to be debt-free. I've never been in the habit of borrowing money, or spending more than I had to spend, so I dont know the full force of how good it feels. But I know enough to feel great that I don't have student loans, credit card bills and someone calling me non-stop for their money.

That said, I will evaluate every choice and purchase for the "daily life effect." That is, will I be worrying about where money will come from because of it? Will I put someone else in debt because of it? If the answer is yes, I wont do it.

All in all, I will save, travel, enjoy life, and be giving ... but will not incur expenses I cannot pay for upfront.