No Regerts...

I haven't written anything (here) in foreverrrrrr. I do make the occasional post on my Facebook companion page though, but it makes me lazy. It's easier to share a funny meme or do a quick post about school or whatever there, but this, this is home, so I need to spend a little more time here. That said, I guess it's time to do a little bit of catch-up.

In case you missed it on my Facebook page, I'm still employed by the local school system, but I'm no longer a sub. I'm now a pre-k paraprofessional--what we called a teacher's aide back in the day. It's a step closer to my goal of being a teacher, even if it came to be by default. See, I started out the school term as a substitute in the position that is now my full-time job. The other parapro found a job at a different school. Eventually, the principal asked me to apply for the job, and thank-you Lord, I got it. It's nice knowing where I'm going to be every day and not waking up to a phone call from Aesop telling me that a job I thought I had was cancelled. No more half-day jobs or grudgingly accepting jobs at schools I didn't really want to go to or grades or subjects I didn't feel comfortable teaching. I do miss all of the teachers, students, and subs that I'd gotten to know over the past couple of years, BUT as long as there's a Wal-Mart in town, I'll still see them. (Can't get out of  THAT spot without seeing people you know.) As for my new position--I got hired in September--I really enjoy it. There are 18 mini-humans in my class. We started out the year with a mix of 3- and 4-year-olds. Now it's 4's and 5's (birthdays and cupcake parties, YASSSS!).

Thank God for a high metabolism.

They're adorable, each with their own personalities, quirks, likes/dislikes and I quickly learned them all. The teacher I work with is cool and I'm learning a lot. However--and there's always a "however", isn't there?--I know this is something that I can't do forever. I really didn't even want to do it more than a year, but now that it's past mid-January, I might have to do it one more year before I become a real teacher. (I may suck at everything else I do in life, but I'm a wiz at procrastination. Like, gold medalist in the procrastination Olympics.) To be honest, as much as I like what I do, I don't feel like I'm doing much and I have a bachelor's. I can easily (?) get a provisional license, so I need to stop damn procrastinating once and for all and do it.

OHHHHHH, I must say one of the perks of working for the school system--but NOT, mind you, the reason why I want to be an educator--is snow days. Unlike my past jobs in retail and radio, if the weather is bad, school is closed, honey. As a matter of fact, we've only been to school 3 days since Christmas/winter break ended, and I didn't have to worry about calling in or missing pay because of these missed days.

Again, not in it for the snow days. BUT...

That brings me to how I have time to write this now. We got 10 inches of snow yesterday, so there's no school for the rest  of this week. The sun was out today, but I live 5 miles from the main highway, and my road is in pretty rough condition. I called in to Hammers, Nails, and Shit (HN&S, remember that?) early to let them that I wouldn't be in because my road wasn't safe. I decided to attempt the drive and left an hour early. I didn't call back to the store to rescind my call-in; I just figured if I made it, cool. If not, no harm/no foul because they weren't expecting me at that point. It was slushy in spots where the sun hit the road and icy where it didn't when I attempted to get there. It would have been ice when I got off, what with the temperature drop and refreeze once the sun set. The manager I spoke with talked kind of of short to me and I just hung up on her. Girrrrrl, BYE. I ain't trying to get killed for what amounts to $50 or maybe $51 dollars BEFORE taxes--I only work a 5 hour shift in the evenings on weekdays at $10 an hour. Not worth it. I went through hell on a spiderweb when I worked at the Retail Cesspool and we had bad weather between stressing about calling in and wracking up points for unexcused absences (because snow up to your arse and perilous road conditions were no excuse to them), or foolishly making the 30 minute drive to get to that thankless place. I said I would never put myself through that again, and I won't. I went to HN&S looking for a job, and I'll leave looking for one. You best believe I'm fully prepared to say ALL of that if they want to get cute and call me in the office when I go in Saturday. I takes no tea for the fever. They can suck it; no regerts, bitchez.

NNNNOPE.