sigh of relief

man, what a busy week. i got back sunday night and had to spend the next two days doing a take-home mid-term for my research class and a summary of chapters and a paper outlining my classroom project for the practicum. wednesday night i had both my classes. plus offspring had soccer practice thursday night. whew!

so, new york. it was awesome. we did some touristy stuff like ellis island, statue of liberty (didn't go inside), times square, central park. ate lots of bagels and pizza and coffee. rode the subway all over town (people were even asking me for directions...so i felt very cool!). went to some restaurants (among them, lucky cheng's in chinatown--drag queen waitresses--yessss!). we went to greenwich village, chelsea, washington square, harlem, brooklyn (williamsburg, where the scenesters live), park ave, 5th ave, union square, grand central station, and little italy. we went to the moma, the guggenheim, el museo del barrio, and the schomberg center for research on black culture. we walked through the projects, the parks, the highrises, and the yuppie areas. we bought some clothes from h&m and filene's basement. and we completely exhausted ourselves. it was fabulous. i saw rats, trash on the street, flower shops everywhere. i heard hilarious accents. oh, and there were some long island girls at lucky cheng's doing karaoke. it was a totally fulfilling cultural experience. i was in awe of the amount of people everywhere. it was great. the only thing is i realized new york isn't this magical place. it's just a really big city. i probably wouldn't live there. but i would love to go back. next time i want to go to more bars, more museums, and a broadway show.

so, my classroom has two new students. yikes. one started this week and he's all over the place. pouring glitter everywhere, pulling papers off tables, throwing puzzles, pounding drums, damn he has some energy. but every day he's a little calmer and today he sat for our entire storytime. the next new one is the same with less language (all he says is apple) and less energy. he has a big head. but both families are really nice.

oh, and el tóxico called me today in my classroom out of the freakin' blue just to tell me his ex-ex-girlfriend had randomly emailed him today to congratulate him on a recent ny times review of his band during sxsw and that she was glad his band was doing so well. um, okay. we haven't talked in three months and you know i think you suck but you felt compelled to call me because, as you put it, you thought i would appreciate it????? and then his friend was surprised i don't want to hang out with her (see drive-by blog). am i the only one here not completely divorced from reality?

oh and this is my horoscope today. i'm going to ignore it.
You can relax now. Whatever you've been stressed over is about to come to a rapid-fire halt -- in pleasant fashion, too. That means you can actually relax and enjoy the rest of the week. Now, isn't there someone you should be calling? Maybe, someone you haven't spoken with -- or at least haven't spoken intimately with -- in far too long? Now that your mind is clear, you'll be able to get back to concentrating on more important things -- if you catch my drift.

**on second thought....ok, i was bitter. and now i'm not. i'm not a hater of girls. it's not her fault. it's my fault for getting sucked into his bullshit. but now i'm not. so things are good.