It has been a LOOOOONG week to say the least. It's tryout week for my high school cheer teams, so the head coach and I have been running the tryout clinic every night this week. For me, that means working my day job from 7 am-330 pm, heading home to change and grab a snack, then it's up to the school by 5 for a night of dancing and cheering, home around 830 to eat and fall into bed...
BS and I have "date nights" during the week where we sit on the phone and watch T.V. together. It gives us guaranteed time "together" during the week, which comes in handy especially when we're both so busy and so far from one another. Tuesdays and Wednesdays have our 2 favorite Food Network shows: Chopped and Dinner: Impossible and so on those nights this past week, I've been up until 11. I wouldn't trade our date nights in for anything, but the lack of sufficient sleep is starting to get to me!
Thankfully, my mom's party this Saturday was canceled. The actual cheer tryouts are Saturday from 8 am to noon, and after was going to be my mother's birthday celebration party that I would've needed to prep and get ready for. It has been pushed back to April! Therefore: I plan on sleeping as much as possible Saturday afternoon!
ps: working on a Friday is awful. i hope that if Furloughs get reinstated, I can work four 10 hour days and always have Fridays off...I hate being at work on a Friday!
<33
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
I guess the fire never dies.
My day job is just that. A day job. My roles and responsibilities are definitely NOT those that I hope will remain my career. Fortunately for me, I am extremely passionate about what my division does as a whole. Tolerating a mundane desk job is a little bit easier when I can see the bigger picture and I fully support the endeavors of this company.
Here's a bit of personal history before I continue: upon graduating high school, I attended CSU Sacramento as a Liberal Studies (elementary education) major. This was right smack dab in the middle of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. If you were living under a rock during that time, you can educate yourself here: http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml I am intensely passionate about the growth and education of young kids and attending a school where the majority of my professors were against the NCLB act soured me greatly on the politics that drive public schools. I was a young girl looking to change the world one student at a time...I wasn't okay being restricted to specific "standards and criteria", I wasn't okay limiting the creativity of my future students. The changes being made to help education were being taught to me as a hinderance and there came a point where I no longer wanted anything to do with it. [among other reasons] I dropped out of college, opting to begin working full time instead, and have since considered other career avenues. I know my passion for kids and their well being still remains, it's obvious in at least my coaching, but it amazes me to find out just how attached to this topic I am.
I work for the State of California > Department of Corrections (CDCR) > Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) > Court Compliance Unit (CCU). Four, maybe five years back, DJJ was sued on the premise that their treatment of the youth fell short of acceptable. My unit is responsible for overseeing the 6 Remedial Plans, plans put in place to remedy the problems in different areas, and to see that they meet the court mandates. My job, specifically, consists of menial office tasks: taking meeting minutes, making copies, organizing birthday luncheons... Luckily for me, I am able to see the bigger picture of what our unit and division contribute. Many people envision our facilities as cold cement buildings with emaciated children clanking tin cups against steel bars. Growing up with a father in CDCR, even I didn't think much else. Our youth have rooms, with beds and windows. They have mandated "out of room" time, they are served 3 meals a day. They earn the equivalent of money and can "purchase" items from the Cantina (top ramen is a favorite buy). Each facility has a high school that the youth are required to attend. We offer GED programs and hold graduations yearly. I believe most, if not all, of our facilities offer college and vocational courses. We have medical and psychiatric staff on site. While it's true that the adult side of the department has long since lost their "rehabilitation" image, DJJ plugs along, mainstreaming youth back into society with a lesser chance of reoffense. I am so proud to be (even a minute) part of that! DJJ is fully and solely commited to the youth and their well being and I LOVE that.
I have recently been required to dive deeper into the world of Cheerleading and different programs offered in our area. There is a program offered at every high school that is directly related to that high school. Those cheerleaders are held to the same athletic standards as all other sports on campus, as well as rules and criteria set forth by their coordinator/head coach and coaching staff, they cheer at sporting events and perform at rallies. All-Star programs are a different story. These are independent businesses that are not affiliated with a school, they do not cheer at sporting events but are strictly for competition. While high school cheerleaders learn several routines for halftimes and other performances, all-star cheerleaders learn and perfect only one. Some high schools offer a competition team as well as a regular season team. High school competition rules are quite different from all-star competition rules in terms of what's required and what's allowed. There are pluses and minuses to both programs, including cost differentiation and time commitments. I'm not even going to go there today...
I've been (minimally) researching local all-star programs for a concerned mother of a cheerleader I coached. I've found endless complaints, pages and pages of myspace and facebook drama, lack of business licenses (is that legal?) and have been throwing reason after reason at this mother on why she should avoid any all-star program and bring her daughter to cheer for me. I told her that CR (my head coach) and I kept drama to a minimum in our program this year, which is a huge leap from the year prior, and then it dawned on me...CR and I are ALL about our girls and them having the greatest time possible. I had been arguing high school cheer over all-star cheer with this mother, but when I said to her "it really takes an active effort on the coaches part to quell the gossip and the drama...and keeping THAT out of a program can really be reflected in performances and participant attitude", I realized that even if CR and I were to open our own all-star gym we'd have the same results. My personal thoughts on why a program would be drenched in gossip and drama: they are opened in the poorest of intentions. I feel like it's become a battle between coaches/owners. Programs are being established under the pretense that they "can do better than that". The whole idea that these are school children (some as young as 4!) has gone out the window. I once coached for an adult woman who made girls on our team of 9 to 13-year-olds cry nightly by telling them that they just weren't good enough to do something, or that their motions were ugly or some other demeaning thing in front of their peers. I stopped coaching for this woman for this very reason.
The other day, during my less-than-exciting day job, I stumbled across a blog on this very website. [http://www.fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com] An anonymous school teacher in Illinois began a project to eat school lunch with her students every day of the calendar year. It is a thought provoking article to say the least. It was intended to raise awareness of the lack of nutrition our students are faced with being that a large majority of children apply for and are granted reduced or free lunches. (meaning they don't have the means to pack a lunch, and are required to eat whatever is served) I'd like to suggest you read her posts to date and follow her.
It is because of this article that I've become aware of my near obsession with children. Before you make some inappropriate joke, hear me out: I was a 3rd grader who would spend her recess in the kindergarten classrooms helping with the younger kids, I started coaching pop warner cheerleaders when I was a sophomore in high school, I went to college to become and elementary school teacher, I am working for the Division of Juvenile Justice currently...kids, their early education, their growth and development: it's SO important to me.
Since leaving Sac State, I've explored several different avenues of a future career. Most of them involve owning a business of my own, the most prominent being a salon. I thoroughly enjoy coloring and styling hair and am interested to learn about cutting and the science behind coloring and other techniques. However, I don't think that omitting child development and elementary education from my future career is an option. I don't think becoming a teacher is the job for me and what I want to do with our current policies/procedures...but I just CAN'T see me living a life without involving myself in matters concerning the youth of the nation. It's intriguing...I'm so interested to know what I'm going to do with this burning passion to help give kids the best possible chance.
Happy Monday!
Here's a bit of personal history before I continue: upon graduating high school, I attended CSU Sacramento as a Liberal Studies (elementary education) major. This was right smack dab in the middle of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. If you were living under a rock during that time, you can educate yourself here: http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml I am intensely passionate about the growth and education of young kids and attending a school where the majority of my professors were against the NCLB act soured me greatly on the politics that drive public schools. I was a young girl looking to change the world one student at a time...I wasn't okay being restricted to specific "standards and criteria", I wasn't okay limiting the creativity of my future students. The changes being made to help education were being taught to me as a hinderance and there came a point where I no longer wanted anything to do with it. [among other reasons] I dropped out of college, opting to begin working full time instead, and have since considered other career avenues. I know my passion for kids and their well being still remains, it's obvious in at least my coaching, but it amazes me to find out just how attached to this topic I am.
I work for the State of California > Department of Corrections (CDCR) > Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) > Court Compliance Unit (CCU). Four, maybe five years back, DJJ was sued on the premise that their treatment of the youth fell short of acceptable. My unit is responsible for overseeing the 6 Remedial Plans, plans put in place to remedy the problems in different areas, and to see that they meet the court mandates. My job, specifically, consists of menial office tasks: taking meeting minutes, making copies, organizing birthday luncheons... Luckily for me, I am able to see the bigger picture of what our unit and division contribute. Many people envision our facilities as cold cement buildings with emaciated children clanking tin cups against steel bars. Growing up with a father in CDCR, even I didn't think much else. Our youth have rooms, with beds and windows. They have mandated "out of room" time, they are served 3 meals a day. They earn the equivalent of money and can "purchase" items from the Cantina (top ramen is a favorite buy). Each facility has a high school that the youth are required to attend. We offer GED programs and hold graduations yearly. I believe most, if not all, of our facilities offer college and vocational courses. We have medical and psychiatric staff on site. While it's true that the adult side of the department has long since lost their "rehabilitation" image, DJJ plugs along, mainstreaming youth back into society with a lesser chance of reoffense. I am so proud to be (even a minute) part of that! DJJ is fully and solely commited to the youth and their well being and I LOVE that.
I have recently been required to dive deeper into the world of Cheerleading and different programs offered in our area. There is a program offered at every high school that is directly related to that high school. Those cheerleaders are held to the same athletic standards as all other sports on campus, as well as rules and criteria set forth by their coordinator/head coach and coaching staff, they cheer at sporting events and perform at rallies. All-Star programs are a different story. These are independent businesses that are not affiliated with a school, they do not cheer at sporting events but are strictly for competition. While high school cheerleaders learn several routines for halftimes and other performances, all-star cheerleaders learn and perfect only one. Some high schools offer a competition team as well as a regular season team. High school competition rules are quite different from all-star competition rules in terms of what's required and what's allowed. There are pluses and minuses to both programs, including cost differentiation and time commitments. I'm not even going to go there today...
I've been (minimally) researching local all-star programs for a concerned mother of a cheerleader I coached. I've found endless complaints, pages and pages of myspace and facebook drama, lack of business licenses (is that legal?) and have been throwing reason after reason at this mother on why she should avoid any all-star program and bring her daughter to cheer for me. I told her that CR (my head coach) and I kept drama to a minimum in our program this year, which is a huge leap from the year prior, and then it dawned on me...CR and I are ALL about our girls and them having the greatest time possible. I had been arguing high school cheer over all-star cheer with this mother, but when I said to her "it really takes an active effort on the coaches part to quell the gossip and the drama...and keeping THAT out of a program can really be reflected in performances and participant attitude", I realized that even if CR and I were to open our own all-star gym we'd have the same results. My personal thoughts on why a program would be drenched in gossip and drama: they are opened in the poorest of intentions. I feel like it's become a battle between coaches/owners. Programs are being established under the pretense that they "can do better than that". The whole idea that these are school children (some as young as 4!) has gone out the window. I once coached for an adult woman who made girls on our team of 9 to 13-year-olds cry nightly by telling them that they just weren't good enough to do something, or that their motions were ugly or some other demeaning thing in front of their peers. I stopped coaching for this woman for this very reason.
The other day, during my less-than-exciting day job, I stumbled across a blog on this very website. [http://www.fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com] An anonymous school teacher in Illinois began a project to eat school lunch with her students every day of the calendar year. It is a thought provoking article to say the least. It was intended to raise awareness of the lack of nutrition our students are faced with being that a large majority of children apply for and are granted reduced or free lunches. (meaning they don't have the means to pack a lunch, and are required to eat whatever is served) I'd like to suggest you read her posts to date and follow her.
It is because of this article that I've become aware of my near obsession with children. Before you make some inappropriate joke, hear me out: I was a 3rd grader who would spend her recess in the kindergarten classrooms helping with the younger kids, I started coaching pop warner cheerleaders when I was a sophomore in high school, I went to college to become and elementary school teacher, I am working for the Division of Juvenile Justice currently...kids, their early education, their growth and development: it's SO important to me.
Since leaving Sac State, I've explored several different avenues of a future career. Most of them involve owning a business of my own, the most prominent being a salon. I thoroughly enjoy coloring and styling hair and am interested to learn about cutting and the science behind coloring and other techniques. However, I don't think that omitting child development and elementary education from my future career is an option. I don't think becoming a teacher is the job for me and what I want to do with our current policies/procedures...but I just CAN'T see me living a life without involving myself in matters concerning the youth of the nation. It's intriguing...I'm so interested to know what I'm going to do with this burning passion to help give kids the best possible chance.
Happy Monday!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
23 years ago today...
...my then 18 year old mother held newborn me in her arms. Crazy to think that I'm 23 years old...I still feel so "young". (the quotes are because I know I'm not old by any means...but there are times when I feel so much younger than my early/mid 20's)
My dad got me a t-shirt and a sweatjacket that each have this screen print on it:
My dad got me a t-shirt and a sweatjacket that each have this screen print on it:
Tooooo cute, right?! I've always wanted "St. Patrick's Day Birthday" gear! Good lookin out, pops! :)
I had my fabulous dinner party at the "S" house 2 weekends ago, had a night of dinner and dancing with friends last weekend, tonight I'm off to dinner with la mama and baby sis tonight and this weekend is going to be a lazy one spent in the bay area with BS and fam. Yay for Birthday Month! ;)
Got the parent meeting for the 10-11 cheer season tomorrow night. I'm highly interested in seeing how many hopefuls we have show up! Then Friday night is our 09-10 End of the Year Cheer Banquet...sure to be good times!! The following weekend is mom's bday party I'm organizing for her and then it's the big camping trip I've been working on! Busy busy month...
Happy St. Patrick's Day and I hope everyone has their green on!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
who puts the CRACK in blackberry?
if you haven't heard the story: my beautiful lime green and black Samsung Propel drowned in a tragic Dr. Pepper accident. :'( a large Del Taco cup of the sticky beverage got tipped over, landing directly on my phone and slowly dripped is syrupy goodness into the face of my phone for about an hour before i noticed it...yes, i dried it off. yes, i let it air out. yes, it still stopped working.
being in a long distance relationship (and being of the generation attached to our electronic devices), NOT having a phone wasn't an option. mom just so happened to have her old phone, this tiny little red thing, which i accepted graciously but grew to loathe. i had grown fond of my wide phone and my qwerty keyboard, downgrading to this older Samsung was hard.
CR offered her old BlackBerry Curve, and to my dismay, i found out it needed a new battery. online, the battery was selling for some $50...NOT worth it. to the at&t store i went with SR to purchase a battery for the Curve and/or check my upgrade options. first: upgrade - turns out i was only eligible for "early upgrade" which comes with a $75 fee on top of the price of a phone (should i not choose a free option). next: refurbished (used) phones - turns out at&t no longer carries refurbs in store, according to this salesman anyway. last: battery - turns out at&t not only doesn't carry refurbs, but they ALSO don't sell batteries except on a small number of phone models. i'm highly disappointed in you, at&t.
SR and i head to target to shop for, among other things, phone options. they had the new curve, all shiny and pretty, for $400. i turned to SR and said "thank goodness this is a WANT and not a NEED...at least i still have a phone". i thought this was the end of my journey...
CR tells me that she can get me a battery through her brother-in-law who works for corporate of one of at&t's rivals. this pleases me 1. because the possibility of using the Curve is back and 2. i desperately want to get back at at&t and i see no better way of doing that then purchasing from one of their competitors.
$25 and a couple days later...i have a crack-berry! it's addicting and frustrating all at the same time. i'm still getting used to it and figuring stuff out...but i defintely LOVE having my qwerty keyboard back, i love how wide it is, i love how much bigger and clearer the screen is...there's just the little problem of not being able to mass-delete CR's old contacts. i'm not looking forward to individually deleting all 300+ of them. =/
todayTODAYtoday...birthday luncheon for the March birthdays in my office. i usually really look forward to potluck luncheons, but i can't say that i'm anticipating this one. i'll report more on that topic post-party.
have a happy hump day!
being in a long distance relationship (and being of the generation attached to our electronic devices), NOT having a phone wasn't an option. mom just so happened to have her old phone, this tiny little red thing, which i accepted graciously but grew to loathe. i had grown fond of my wide phone and my qwerty keyboard, downgrading to this older Samsung was hard.
CR offered her old BlackBerry Curve, and to my dismay, i found out it needed a new battery. online, the battery was selling for some $50...NOT worth it. to the at&t store i went with SR to purchase a battery for the Curve and/or check my upgrade options. first: upgrade - turns out i was only eligible for "early upgrade" which comes with a $75 fee on top of the price of a phone (should i not choose a free option). next: refurbished (used) phones - turns out at&t no longer carries refurbs in store, according to this salesman anyway. last: battery - turns out at&t not only doesn't carry refurbs, but they ALSO don't sell batteries except on a small number of phone models. i'm highly disappointed in you, at&t.
SR and i head to target to shop for, among other things, phone options. they had the new curve, all shiny and pretty, for $400. i turned to SR and said "thank goodness this is a WANT and not a NEED...at least i still have a phone". i thought this was the end of my journey...
CR tells me that she can get me a battery through her brother-in-law who works for corporate of one of at&t's rivals. this pleases me 1. because the possibility of using the Curve is back and 2. i desperately want to get back at at&t and i see no better way of doing that then purchasing from one of their competitors.
$25 and a couple days later...i have a crack-berry! it's addicting and frustrating all at the same time. i'm still getting used to it and figuring stuff out...but i defintely LOVE having my qwerty keyboard back, i love how wide it is, i love how much bigger and clearer the screen is...there's just the little problem of not being able to mass-delete CR's old contacts. i'm not looking forward to individually deleting all 300+ of them. =/
todayTODAYtoday...birthday luncheon for the March birthdays in my office. i usually really look forward to potluck luncheons, but i can't say that i'm anticipating this one. i'll report more on that topic post-party.
have a happy hump day!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Birthday Celebration # 1
AS put on one beautiful dinner party for me this weekend. I spent Friday shopping at the local mall with BrS (the boyfriend's lil sis) and that evening, their close family friends (the W's and JP) joined us for dinner. We had a delicious wedge salad, phenomenal twice baked potatoes, tasty green beans, the most delicious pork tenderloins followed by chocolate and funfetti cupcakes! We spent the night laughing and telling stories, I opened presents and loved spending the first of my birthday celebrations with a family I've come to love dearly.
This weekend, JK and hubby come down to celebrate with me. BS is coming up as well and the four of us and SR will be enjoying our weekend together. Plans have yet to be determined but the words "dinner", "movie" and "club" have been thrown around alot. I'm so thrilled that my big sis, my bestest friend and my boyfriend are all going to be with me the weekend before my 23rd birthday...
I'm going through an emotional growth spurt right now, making changes in my lifestyle. I hope to improve my quality of character and create greater bonds with those around me. I want to live healthier and happier. No soda, no fast food, no red meat, no alcohol...the list of things I'm giving up continues to grow as I live and learn and make changes. I love my life, my family and friends mean the world to me and there is nothing in this world that is worth losing everything.
Today I am reflective. I'm drowsy from an eventful weekend and I'm looking forward to lying in bed all evening, with nothing to do but catch up on my photo editing. When I'm tired and thinking...my brain wanders aimlessly for miles, and my train of thought moves like a bullet from one thing to another. I am so thankful for the amazing people in my life. Another year down the drain, I'm ready to embrace life and start making something of it. I know who my true friends are, I've gained the love of a family that I adore, and while there are many things that could bring me down, I am choosing to make better decisions for me.
I hope everyone has a happy Monday and a great week ahead of them.
This weekend, JK and hubby come down to celebrate with me. BS is coming up as well and the four of us and SR will be enjoying our weekend together. Plans have yet to be determined but the words "dinner", "movie" and "club" have been thrown around alot. I'm so thrilled that my big sis, my bestest friend and my boyfriend are all going to be with me the weekend before my 23rd birthday...
I'm going through an emotional growth spurt right now, making changes in my lifestyle. I hope to improve my quality of character and create greater bonds with those around me. I want to live healthier and happier. No soda, no fast food, no red meat, no alcohol...the list of things I'm giving up continues to grow as I live and learn and make changes. I love my life, my family and friends mean the world to me and there is nothing in this world that is worth losing everything.
Today I am reflective. I'm drowsy from an eventful weekend and I'm looking forward to lying in bed all evening, with nothing to do but catch up on my photo editing. When I'm tired and thinking...my brain wanders aimlessly for miles, and my train of thought moves like a bullet from one thing to another. I am so thankful for the amazing people in my life. Another year down the drain, I'm ready to embrace life and start making something of it. I know who my true friends are, I've gained the love of a family that I adore, and while there are many things that could bring me down, I am choosing to make better decisions for me.
I hope everyone has a happy Monday and a great week ahead of them.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Amateur Photography + Me = Love
my baby and his bass 
AW and BS recording a couple songs
the lighting in LG's room was PHENOMENAL
is this or is this not a 'rockstar' photo?!So...in my first post to this blog I mentioned an "amateur photography blog" that I had YET to post to...and still have yet to post to! HOWEVER...after my recent photo-session with my boyfriend's band Caveat, I've decided to really get into it.
The photos above are just a few from last Sunday...I had 290 that I cut down to 77 and now have to go through the editing process. I love capturing a moment in time. I love fabricating memories, turning someone's mental image into a tangible work of art.
That being said...I'm going to rename my photography venture and I'm actually going to follow through with it! I'll link the blog to this one, I hope you'll all follow it!
It's Th-riday, so I'm off tomorrow! To the bay I go, to visit my love BS. Today: I must tackle 3-hours worth of staff meetings...I can't wait to own my own business (with my sister JK!) so that our staff meetings consist of martinis and good food!!! Have a good day, all!
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