and i don't feel any different.... (ya know that death cab song...)

Well, that's a lie. i feel totally different, and a lot better.

First off, I want to tell you how thankful I am to have so many awesome people in my life. Sometimes I think i don't tell people enough.

Next thing, I want to tell you how awesome two week winter vacations are. teehee.
I absolutely love being a teacher, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. After the vacation my mental and emotional approach was different. I'm able to deal with more and be more calm about it. I've introduced new concepts regarding how to think about our subject matter, and I actually think the kids are getting it.

I had my first sixth grade girl gossip situation...you know, adolescents with their "my friends say that she said blah blah blah...but i didn't say that about her...i don't know who to believe blah blah blah" stuff. And they wanted me to mediate for them. I asked what happened, and i'm like "that's it?!" ...luckily the school counselor came to help me out, and that helped. At the end of the day, these girls were friends again. silly adolescents. :)

I don't wear glasses anymore (i wear these contacts through the night that reshape the surface of my eye and i take them off during the day and i see 20/20 and just put them back on before i go to sleep...like a retainer for my eye). I'm getting used to not having to look through external lenses to see. and not try to push up my glasses when they're not there.

One reason i did this is because ike I posted earlier, I made the decision and started kickboxing. I started on Wednesday Jan 2 and have been going every other day since then. Well, for the first half week and the whole second week i went MWF...starting my third week (second whole week) I went MWF and Saturday.

It's only been a month, but I feel and can see my body changing. It feels awesome to be doing something physical and exercise-y again. For the past couple years I haven't worked out regularly because my schedule has been so weird. Now that I have a grown up job with a normal (meaning not retail) schedule, being in shape and healthy is more of a priority. I start my SJSU classes this coming tuesday, so we'll see how my body does with kickboxing MWFS and classes Tuesday and Thursday. My classes for my credential are the only things in my schedule that make things difficult, but I have to deal with those for a whole other school year. I'm used to it by now.

So, why start exercising when I'm pretty busy? I'm happier doing it. I don't deal with stress well if I'm not doing something physical and/or exercising. Let me tell ya, kickboxing is a great stress relief...and...I'm getting in shape. One of these days, I want to try to really fight in the ring, but not for another 6 months to a year. I'm still trying to get used to getting hit. i'm not so good with defense yet, in all my other martial arts training i never got hit at...i only did the hitting. but it's only been a month, right.

I'm not expecting any miracles with my training, but I'll work as hard as my body allows. my legs have gotten more definition back, my arms too. when i flex my arm i can see my deltoid and the outline of my triceps...but i still have that arm fat (you know, wings...lol), which i'll have for a while. I've made friends with a few really good people to train with, to get trained by, and to watch...so being at the gym I'm at puts me in great company. i train at american kickboxing academy in san jose, a gym that has bred more than its fair share of UFC fighters.

I just met a burner who is a professional fighter (they are few and far between, let me tell ya)...she actually left a note on my car after seeing my DPW stickers and other burning man paraphernalia. i called her and found out who she was...she's pretty hard core, a little bit frightening how tough she is. i hope she doesn't kick my ass. haha. she's cool though, and we're gonna do burner activities as much as possible.

I rarely get back to san francisco anymore, and for those of you up there, i do apologize. I want to see you all, please believe me. Being a first year teacher (and going to school to learn how to do it at the same time) is definitely one of the hardest things i've ever done in my life. It's all worth it.
I was up during new year's...but with a couple of my best mates.

I hope to make it up to san francisco for a few parties soon.

Now, I must put a quick and not very smooth end to this post and say good bye!

LOVE