Blog o' Boredom

First of all, let me just apologize for two things: 1. My obscene lack of posts as of late, and, 2. My excruciatingly boring posts. What happened to the clever, witty, gut-wrenchingly hilarious anecdotes and editorials, you may ask? Apparently the advent of school has unforgivingly soaked up every last ounce of creative juices flowing within me, leaving me dry and...well, kind of blah. OK, you want the truth? Well, here it is: 'Veronica Mars' has me totally and completely hooked. I am absolutely consumed by the show, and I block out three hours a day to watch 4-episode discs, and then when I'm in class, I sit and daydream about all the possibilities...OK, mostly I just think about Veronica and Logan and how I want them to hook up again. I'm halfway through season two, so don't give me any spoilers if you've got the inside scoop. I can't wait until I'm completely caught up with the show, so then I can check out all the fan sites. I've been avoiding them right now because I don't want to accidentally come across any secrets that haven't been revealed yet. But anyway, back to my boring blog. It will get more interesting and funny, I promise (even if it has to become an entirely fictional blog). So hang in there, my avid fans (I guess that means you, Mom and Dad!). Oh, and by the way, I don't hate men (only the majority of them).

Arts Retreat

Tomorrow I have to go on an "arts retreat" with my cohort where we will stay overnight at a lodge about thirty miles away. We're going to be making "culture boxes"...didn't we do that in the third grade? And isn't "culture box" really just another name for "diorama"? Needless to say, I'm not excited.

Violence IS the answer

For one of my classes, I'm reading a book called Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. It's all about girls "bullying" each other by destroying reputations and ruining lives through rumors, gossiping, the "silent treatment," and all sorts of other insidious, manipulative methods. And sadly, it's all very true. Girls can be malicious, and what's so scary is that we're so sneaky about it. But you know who we have to blame for these problems? Our messed up, socially catastrophic, completely hypocritical, piece of crap patriarchal society that oppresses women to such a point that they're not even allowed to tell each other when they're angry! Call me extreme, call me a feminist, call me wrong (even though I'm right), but the truth of the matter is, girls are socially conditioned not to express their emotions. Think about it: if guys have a problem, what do they do? Yell at each other or throw a couple punches and then everything's cool. Of course, I'm obviously oversimplifying here, but this illustrates the basic difference between girls versus boys in terms of same-sex social interactions. And this is what is complete crap and makes me wish that I were a lesbian or a member of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's all-female society in Herland: the power differential between men and women. Don't tell me how far women have come, and how we're closing the gap and all that crap-- it's not true. Women have barely had the right to vote, for God's sake! But anyway, here's what is so completely frustrating. Men say women have all the power, blah blah blah. But let's examine what type of power we actually have: sexual. Every ounce of "power" a woman has over a man stems from something sexual. Is it possible to be a woman and have nonsexual power? Maybe if you're a body-builder or filthy rich, but these are exceptions and aren't the norm, and they come with their own set of stereotypes and societally-imposed dichotomies. The more money and the higher up a woman is on the job ladder, the less likely she is to be married. Why is that? Why are men scared of women being more successful than them? Because their role as "provider" is challenged? It's such a complete load of crap. Because we are physically "inferior" and emotional, we are seen as weaker. Well who the hell decided that not being as strong and having feelings makes someone weak? In order for women to succeed in the male-dominated corporate world, they have to become stoic, or at the very least "in control" of their emotions. This patriarchal "formula for success" requires women to have to take on traditionally masculine qualities and then where does that get us? To the top, maybe, but then we are seen as prudish, intimidating, undesirable. It's not fair. Women should be able to get married and have kids AND be at the top of their careers without having to tolerate the patriarchal B.S. that makes us less desirable and less likely to find a mate. When I make it to the top of whatever that may be, I can't wait to hire an all male staff and pay them 75% of what they should be earning for their positions. And if I'm angry, I'm not gonna keep it all bottled up inside like this insidious girl bullying crap-- I'm gonna slug someone right in the face, and then they can tell me how intimidating I am.

Boys. Sigh.

Yesterday was my last day at the high school for my field observation. After one of the senior elective classes, a kid walks up to me and says, "Hey, can you do me a favor?". Naturally, I'm a little suspicious, so I ask him what he needs. He replies, "Can you wink at my friend, Brian?". Hmmmm, let me think...no! Like I really need to get slapped with a sexual harrassment lawsuit my second week in a classroom! So I tell him no and he offers me five bucks, which in all honesty was somewhat tempting. Boys are so silly.

Playing teacher, new personal lows, my latest obsession, and being a morbidly obese gymnast

I feel so guilty for not having posted very much lately. So, here are a few random things I've been dying to talk about. (Not that putting them in a bulleted list really makes up for a lack of posts, but whatever):

• Becoming a teacher: Thursday is my last official day of my "field observations" out in good ol' Mukilteo (which is a solid 23-mile commute from my apartment). I've been waking up at 5:30 in the morning, which is definitely taking its toll on me. I don't know how the heck those kids get to school by 7:20 every day. It makes no sense why their school starts so early, especially considering that teenagers require the most hours of sleep. But anyway... tomorrow I get to "shadow" a sophomore from one of the honors English classes, so that should be pretty interesting.

• Iron Girl 5K: On Sunday my mom and I ran the Iron Girl 5K, and I set a new record-- I got my slowest time ever! I'm attempting to cheer myself up about it by laughing, but the truth is I'm pretty disappointed. I guess mostly still mad at myself for getting so gung-ho after my previous race in July that I launched into a massive running campaign and ended up killing my calf, setting myself back a month. But I learned my lesson (well, at least I hope I did), so this time around I'm going to give my legs the proper rest and then step it up a few notches.

• Veronica Mars: Cassie and I are completely obsessed with it. I absolutely love the show. We're halfway through the first season, and we've got two more discs coming via Netflix tomorrow. On Saturday afternoon, after I got home from work, I was so exhausted that I sat down on the couch and watched seven straight episodes of Veronica Mars, moving only to get more food. I think I might be an addict.

• My new job: My new part-time gig is working as a gymnastics instructor. Those of you who know me would find this funny for several reasons:

1) I don't know how to do gymnastics. I can do a somersault and a cartwheel. That's it.
2) I'm about a foot too tall and fifty pounds too heavy to be a gymnast (and I'm not that tall or that fat).

High school all over again

Today was day two of my field observation at a high school located 22 miles north of where I live. So for the next seven days I have to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn (bonus points if you got the reference): 5:30am. It sucks. I have to go to bed at 9:30 if I want 8 hours of sleep. I feel like I'm five or something. But anyway, this is how the field observation works: I'm assigned to a teacher and I basically sit in the back of her classroom and take copious notes about everything she does. I've got a field handbook that has tons of assignments in it-- interviews with staff and students, and lots of observations to take and write about. I'm actually really excited for it, but it's pretty overwhelming at the same time. It just feels so strange being in a high school. And this place is huge-- 3 stories with several separate buildings, including an annex, a pool, and a greenhouse. 2200 students go here! That's 1,000 mores students than my high school had (granted we were only a 10-12 school). My teacher had me introduce myself to her classes, and I had to refer to myself as a Ms.! That was probably one of the most uncomfortable feelings ever. I honestly felt like I was assuming a fake identity. We'll see how it goes tomorrow... for now I've gotta catch some much-needed shut-eye so I don't fall asleep in class like the kids...