Let there be light!

Please let it be known that at 5:50 PM this evening, I was not walking home in the dark. I would say I was walking home in the semi-lightness; nay, in full visibility. All signs are pointing to springtime being on its way. On my walk, I noticed an elderly man moseying along, falling behind in the crowd of pedestrians rushing to get home after their busy days. He would stop, say hello to each individual who paused, and would say, "Let there be light!" Most people looked at him like he was crazy, and perhaps he was, but in that moment, I definitely understood his ebullience. Let there be light, indeed.

The Gold Card

Picture this: You wake up, and wonder for a second why it's so light outside. You leisurely reach over to your phone, and check the time. It's 8:15, and you were supposed to be at work by 8:00, having already purchased bagels for a co-worker's student group. You leap out of bed, curse a few times, and make it out the door in 3 minutes flat. You rush over to Dunkin Donuts and purchase 3 dozen bagels and cream cheese, while simultaneously calling the school to make sure that someone is covering your morning advisory. At precisely 8:40, you breathlessly arrive at school, sweating profusely. You deliver the bagels, and make it to the door of your advisory, where your 6th grade students make fun of you because your face is the color of a ripe tomato.

That's not a hypothetical situation...this was my morning. For the first time since I've been working, I must have forgotten to set my alarm. Yikes. Possibly even more humbling was my self-proclaimed non technologically-savvy mother telling me that it's helpful to set a recurring alarm on the Iphone. Thanks, Mom!

However, the moment that saved my day, when I was griping about my disaster of a morning, was when my co-worker/office mate/best friend at work told me to go out and buy a coffee on her, using her Starbucks Gold Card.

Starbucks Gold Card?

Needless to say, I had never heard of this phenomenon. I've gotten 5 dollar gift cards to Starbucks before...but I have never seen a Starbucks Gold Card. In the midst of what was proving to be a terrible day, it was nice to have one moment spent laughing hysterically/marveling at how one even gets to be a Starbucks Gold Card member. The answer? It takes almost a year, and it's a long process. That's a lot of coffee. However, in that moment, all those venti triple shot lattes, hard work, and determination just made my day.

Read Across America

This week is Read Across America week, due to this Saturday being Dr. Seuss' birthday. Today, two of my 3rd graders stopped me in the hall, and demanded that I watch them sang a song they will sing for their "Grandfriends" on Friday. Yes, apparently now even the word "Grandparents" is politically incorrect. Excuse me while I resist the urge to rant about how sensitive people are these days...we call Halloween "Autumn Festival", Christmas "Winter Festival", etc, etc. The other day I was doing some yoga moves with my 3rd grade students to get them moving, and one student piped up and said, "Yoga is against my religion!" But I digress. Back to those singing 3rd graders. I don't remember the exact lyrics of the song, but I remember a couple:

"Read across America...
From sea to shining sea...
Reading is really cool...
Exercise your mind..."

The point is that in that one moment, I got so caught up in their excitement. During a tough day, I was completely lifted up by these little people who knew exactly what was important to focus on.

Chirp

My moment today was fairly simple, yet incredibly important. As I stepped outside the gate of Lantern Square (the adorable, historic courtyard I have lived in for the past several years), I heard something I haven't heard for a while. I had to actually stop walking and listen to make sure, since I didn't recognize the sound right away. What was that? I actually heard birds chirping. Fancy that. Since there doesn't seem to be a chance that we teachers will get a snow day this winter, I'm fine with signs that spring may be on the way.

I want it!

So, I've started occasionally frequenting IntenSati classes on Sunday mornings. Hmm, how to describe Sati...it's basically doing a bunch of aerobic moves while saying powerful positive statements. It sounds like the cheesiest class ever - and it is. It's a bunch of women, shouting at the top of their lungs, and not exactly always being in sync. What keeps me going back is a) it's free, b) it's actually a great workout and c) the class makes me feel amazing. The bottom line is that when I'm shouting at the top of my lungs, "I am strong NOW" - I feel strong. There's really no other thought at that moment that's capable of flying through my head. Today's class was all about setting intentions and combining those intentions with actions. So, a good part of the class was spent shouting, "I want it! I want it! I really really want it!"

That all leads up to my moment of the day. I was in SuperFresh, standing in the cereal aisle, and I was trying to grab a box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares. There were three or four people standing directly in front of the cereal, engaged in an intense conversation. I waited a little while, and finally timidly asked them to move aside. One of the men looked at me, and said, "Now don't be shy - what do you want?" I told him I just wanted to grab a box of cereal. He moved right aside and imparted these words of wisdom, "Now just remember - shy girls don't ever get ahead in this world. You got to tell the world what you want!" Had he been in my Sati class?

Maybe the universe is telling me it's time to grab that cereal that I want out of life. 

A spot of color

Today was just one of those days.

I taught Saturday Academy at 9 am to a group of middle schoolers who made it clear they would rather be anywhere but school...and who thought that the antonym for hilarious was scary...

I graded. A. Lot.

I made banana bread that turned out like this (don't ask)...

I played a trivia game called Smart Ass with my friends and I couldn't answer a single question, not even the ones that featured famous authors...

However, one spot of color in my day was the care package I received from my mom containing this:

On my birthday, my mom gave me four or five skeins of yarn (did you notice the technical term there??), and told me to choose a color for my new scarf. Today, exactly one month after my birthday, it arrived! I know she must have worked very hard to knit a scarf in a month - right, people who knit?  I walked out into the rainy, dreary day, but my new scarf lit up the night. 

"That hoagie is staying in my belly!"

Today I coordinated a field trip with 6th graders to a Sewage Treatment Plant for a service learning project. I won't discuss the Murphy's Law element of this field trip. Instead, I will share one moment. One fairly unappetizing moment. Our tour guide was explaining that while it's not always pleasant to think about, the Sewage Treatment Plant is really essential - without it, where would our waste go? After all, everyone has to go to the bathroom every day. Side conversation between two students:

Student 1: "I'm going to have a hoagie for lunch."

Student 2: "That hoagie will just end up here later."

Student 1: "Oh no! That hoagie is staying in MY belly!"

Student 2: "Until it comes here later!"

Student 1: "Gross!!"

So today my students officially learned where their waste goes. Young minds were blown. 

That was supposed to be a secret!

A conversation I had with two 3rd grade boys today (mind you, they are 9 years old):

* Names have been changed.

Patrick: "Sam told everyone I liked Sally!"

Sam: "But you told me you liked her."

Patrick: "But that was supposed to be a secret! You know she doesn't like me back anyways!"

Sam: "Oh..."

My moment today was spent trying to hold back laughter (although I felt quite bad for Patrick), scratching my head and thinking, they really start liking girls when they are 9??? I thought I was done with the boy-girl drama after leaving my 8th grade students!

5 dozen donuts

You want to know what 5 dozen donuts looks like? Here's what 5 dozen donuts looks like:

No, they were not for me. I bought them this morning for a program at school. As I stepped out of the Dunkin' Donuts on Walnut Street, I prepared myself for the scrutiny of my fellow pedestrians. After all, when a girl carries a huge bag containing approximately 24,000 calories (nutrition info taken from the Dunkin' Donuts website and then poorly calculated by yours truly), you would think there would be a judgmental look or two. If I had stepped out of a Dunkin' Donuts in LA (if such a store exists there), I would have certainly been chastised.

Funny story - I was a first year teacher in West LA; a member of a teaching team of women who looked like models. Every Thursday, we would go and get cupcakes together. Sounds normal, right? Well, slight correction - we would get two cupcakes amongst the four of us, and split them in half. Each of us got half a cupcake. One Thursday, I said I would prefer to have my own cupcake. I could see the other three ladies casting disparaging looks at my midsection.

Yet this morning, no one even flinched. Perhaps this goes back to Philly being one of the "Fattest Cities in America". So my moment today consisted of me chuckling to myself, relieved to be living in a city full of regular-sized people who, on occasion, enjoy a donut. Or perhaps 5 dozen. Yikes.

The longest elevator ride ever

Today I got on an elevator that was going the wrong way. Maybe it was because I was immersed in an intense Words with Friends game on my Iphone and I wasn't exactly paying attention. So I wedged myself into this tiny elevator with about 8 other people, and a woman in the back immediately grumbled, "I take it everyone decided to ride the elevator today." I got in on floor 5, thinking I was going down to the lobby. Alas, I was headed up to floor 12 instead. It seemed like every floor the elevator would creak to a stop, someone would have to get out, and someone else would get in. I kept getting pushed further back, so I didn't want to push my way through the crowd to try and switch elevators. Multiple people started complaining, and all of a sudden, the elevator felt extremely small. At one point, the elevator almost stopped in between floors. I had that moment where you surreptitiously look around, thinking that these are the people you are going to be stuck with for the foreseeable future. Luckily, the elevator managed to eek out a couple more stops. I blissfully rode the whole way down by myself in total silence. 

Who will buy the roses no one wanted on Vday?

When I was in the 8th grade, I landed a small solo in the musical Oliver. I was the rose seller, so my sole singing line was, "Who will buy my sweet red roses, two blooms for a penny?" I was reminded of this when I walked into CVS this evening, and saw all the discounted flowers by the front window that no one had claimed for Valentine's day. Unlike Christmas or Halloween decorations, flowers that didn't sell on Valentine's day don't really have a great chance of being scooped up and stored in the attic until next year. There was a big sign with them that said ALL FLOWERS 50 % OFF, but no one seemed to even be glancing at them. Looking at the picture, you can see that someone even thought it was a good place to put down a Dr. Pepper. Poor, sad flowers. So my unique moment of today involved me singing (obviously louder than I thought), "Who will buy the roses no one wanted on Vday" to the tune of Oliver and the checkout clerk who was supervising the self-check out line giving me a weird look.  

The art of getting lost

This morning, my friend, her dog and I set off to find a nice wintry hike around the town of Jim Thorpe, PA. Easy, right? Well, between our google maps and apple maps and hiking apps ... we just kept getting lost. At one point, we were ordered to make a sharp turn by google maps, which was really a hairpin turn, and we ended up in someone's driveway. Google maps announced, "You are here!" but we really weren't so sure. At another point, we were driving through this random town some 70 miles north of Philly (or possibly west, I'm not entirely sure) and we hit every single red light. That's when we discovered we had been driving the wrong way for about 20 minutes. That was my bad. Since this friend has been in my life for over 20 years at this point, we've had plentiful opportunities to get lost, and we take it in stride. In fact, the defining moment of today was when she just pulled her car over to the side of the road, spotted what possibly could be a trailhead, and suggested that we just get out and start walking. So we did. And it was beautiful.

The hidden speakeasy

Deep in the heart of Philadelphia's chinatown, there's a gate. Behind that gate, there's a door. Behind that door, there's an entry room. Behind that room, there's a hidden treasure of a bar. In typical speakeasy fashion, there's no sign for this place, and if you blink, you'll miss it. You ring the bell at the gate, and a man (reminding me very much of the gatekeeper of the Wizard of Oz), answers, frowns at you, and tells you that he might not have room for you for a while. If you wait, however, it's worth it. After waiting in the entry room, you go inside. Inside - although I can't show you since no photos are allowed - it's an eclectic room with red walls, a nickle-plated bar, and random paintings, including a picture of a dog wearing a dress. Then, they start making the drinks. There's no wine, and no beer. Just old-fashioned cocktails. I've never seen a drink being made before that was so entertaining. If the drink calls for freshly juiced fruit, they'll juice it right there for you. If that drink calls for a bit of coffee, they'll brew it fresh for you. The bartenders shake the drinks with their whole bodies. Our drinks literally took 10 minutes to make. The moment I'll remember about today was when I actually clapped when our drinks were poured. I've never been so excited about receiving a mixed drink. It was pure art! If you dare to approach that secret gateway, I dare say that you might just have a magical moment of your own.

The lonely scarf

Today the weather took a sudden turn for warmer temperatures, although apparently it's supposed to snow tonight. This, by the way, being the third Friday night in a row that it's supposed to snow, is making us teachers mighty mad. It doesn't look like there is a snow day in sight. Yet it was rather nice to switch out my heavy winter coat for a lighter jacket before heading out this afternoon. Yes, I'm now using phrases like "rather nice" after several hours of watching Downton Abbey. My friend and I are newly obsessed. My moment of the day occurred when I noticed this scarf tied around a street sign. Perhaps its owner abandoned it due to the sudden heat wave? Even though the groundhog apparently predicted an early spring, I don't think winter is over yet. Hold onto your scarves!

A city full of flowers

Valentine's Day is a fun holiday. It usually involves a lot of chocolate, and I can never say no to chocolate. As my 3rd grade students put it today, "It's a day when you show love to everyone." The moment that stood out to me today (as it does practically every year) is that moment when you walk down the street and almost every man is scurrying about, carrying flowers. I kind of feel bad for the male gender come Valentine's Day. It seems like there is so much pressure. Even so, I always kind of chuckle at that moment when I see man after man carrying huge bouquets of roses.

P.S. The mini-cheesecakes from last night were delicious! 

Adventures in Baking

My mom is an incredible baker - most famously known for her pecan miniatures. Baking, unlike cooking in my opinion, takes a lot of patience and care. This describes my mom perfectly. I, however, seem to be missing the patience gene. When I cook or bake, I fail to follow recipes exactly, I'm nonchalant about the order in which ingredients get mixed, and I often think it's perfectly okay if I don't have enough flour, or if I need to substitute one ingredient for another. In short - sometimes my creations turn out well, and sometimes they don't. One of my dear friends in Philadelphia is a total blast for me to cook with - because she shares my lackadaisical attitude towards cooking. Even if the final product doesn't turn out well, we always have fun. Tonight, we were baking mini cheesecakes with Reese's peanut butter cups in them. As we were spooning the cream cheese/flour/sugar/vanilla/egg mix into the graham cracker crusts, we kept wondering if we were putting in the right amount. We decided it didn't really matter, and then ended up laughing hysterically - because we both knew that our mothers would be shaking their heads at us in that moment. 

Not shocked

So I passed out fairly early last night - well before 9 PM, and completely forgot about my blog. Don't you worry, because you'll be getting a double dose of insights today!

My moment yesterday was one of social commentary. There I was, heading down the street, and saw a sight that seems inevitable in a city. Every once in a while, on a street corner, there seems to be an individual who is just plain yelling. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't, and nine out of ten times is accompanied by several expletives. Most city folk are pros at putting on a blase look and pretending like that person doesn't exist. That part didn't really faze me. What did, however, was the fact that the four children of this one woman did exactly the same thing. Not one child looked in the "crazy" person's direction. All of them pretended that they didn't hear anything. I thought in that moment that they were too young to be that practiced at pretending like they weren't shocked. 

Future authors

One of the things I miss the most about teaching 8th grade is the writing. Teaching playwrighting to 8th graders for 4 years was amazing because I got to see such creativity. Well, today, I decided to try some creative writing with my 3rd graders. I gave them one rule: their stories had to be fiction. After about 15 minutes of what I like to call their hypothetical questions ("What if I run out of ideas?" "What if I break my pencil?" "What if I finish writing on one side of the paper?"), they were off and running. When I asked who wanted to share, every single hand shot up. Definitely a far cry from 8th grade. As they read their little stories aloud, I was blown away. One girl wrote about a multiplication sign who was lonely and looking for friends, and then realized that she and the plus sign were more alike than they thought they were. One boy wrote about a trash can who didn't have any friends because he kept shaving off everyone's eyeballs. Another boy wrote about a "humbac" - part human, part bacon who didn't fit in with the humans or the rest of the meat. My moment today was when I was just listening, awestruck, as I realized that these little geniuses could be famous someday. Now don't go stealing their ideas!

Hmm...come to think about it, why did they all write about characters that need friends? Are some visits to the counselor in order? 

The onion lost his friends!

This is literally the conversation I overheard in the grocery store this evening:

Father: "We need some onions."
Little girl: "One onion?"
Father: "Why don't you get a big bag?"
Little girl: "Okay!"
Little girl: "Daddy, look! Here's one onion that's not in a bag! He must have lost his friends!"
Father (not listening): "Do you have the onions?"
Little girl: "Daddy, can we take this onion home? He's lonely!"
Father: "Just take the bag!"

I wanted to interfere and either tell the little girl to put the onion back with his onion friends in the single-onion stash - or tell the father to just buy the darn extra onion.

I'll be baaaack

For some reason unbeknownst to me, I have committed to teaching Saturday Academy at my school for the next several weeks. It sounds more formal than what it actually is - more test prep before the state tests. I could write a novel on my feelings on testing, so I'll table that for now. However, my 6th graders and I had a really funny moment whilst test prepping. A passage described an alien as being "built like Arnold Schwarzenegger". One girl asked what that meant. She hadn't heard of Arnold before. So I google imaged him, and immediately all of his muscle pictures came up. Only a couple kids had seen The Terminator and only a couple more knew of his infamous line, "I'll be baaack." Of course, when I then told the kids he also dabbles in politics, they were shocked. So, in that one moment, we were all just gawking at Arnold's muscles. Imagine, a whole generation growing up without Arnold! What is this world coming to?

I won!

I can remember one specific point in my life where I won a random prize. I was eating in Burger King as a child, and I had the lucky number to win one of those little stuffed Coca-Cola Polar Bears. I couldn't believe it, and I treasured that little polar bear for years....although I'm realizing I have no idea where it is now. Winning a prize through a lottery is just random luck. So many people get superstitious, or think there's a strategy to winning, but I don't believe it. Unfortunately, this is not the story of the moment when I won the lottery. Yet I did have a nice moment today where during a fundraiser raffle, I won two free theater tickets. It felt so good to win something without trying. Maybe I'll go out and buy a lottery ticket tomorrow. 

Alumni

One of the most rewarding parts of being a teacher is seeing what kind of people your former students become. My very first 8th grade students are now freshmen in college. Via Facebook, I've been able to keep tabs on some of them. Every time they post that they are studying, I give myself a little pat on the back. Totally because of me. Every time they post something inappropriate, I seriously consider calling their moms. In all seriousness, though, it's so amazing to see where my middle school alumni are, and what they are doing. At my current school, I'm really lucky because most of them come back to visit. Even though during their 8th grade year, they act like they can't wait to leave, I always tell them that they'll be back to visit sooner or later. Today, out of the blue, I hear, "Tr. Julie! Tr. Julie!" and a former student rushes over and gives me the biggest hug. She's a sophomore in high school now, and is so happy. She's doing really well in school, has tons of friends, and seems so confident in who she is. And she wanted to tell me! That moment really made my day. 

Who moved the mouse trap?

"My name is Julie, and I have a mouse in my apartment."

"Hi Julie!"

I know, no need to be that dramatic about it. But every time I see a mouse in my apartment (at least once a year) I automatically feel like it's a reflection on my character. "I clean!" I protest to anyone who will listen. "I don't leave food lying around!" You loyal readers will remember that on January 1st, the cat I was taking care of actually killed a mouse. I figured that having a cat in my home for a month was extra insurance - that the smell would ward off mice for at least a couple months.

But alas - this new mouse is bold. He/she just sauntered on out the other night, and didn't even scurry away that fast when I stomped on over. I immediately got out my trusty mouse traps, baited them with peanut butter, and waited. Today, I walked into my apartment, and automatically checked the mouse traps. 

One had moved. Fairly far from where I had set it. Since I live alone, there is only one explanation: THE MOUSE MOVED IT! So, my moment today was of sheer panic. This mouse is smarter than I thought! Can I borrow a cat again?

No Day But Today

Almost two years ago, I went to Turkey for 6 weeks with a group of 12 strangers. I didn't really think of 6 weeks as being that long until a camp friend reminded me that camp was only a week longer, and it seemed like those summers lasted forever (in the best way possible). All 13 of us were and continue to be incredibly different people. That dynamic made our trip hilarious, insightful, frustrating, emotional - you name it. Yet I can still say today that it was one of the best experience I've ever had, and that I've formed some of my most meaningful relationships through this trip. So, what does that have to do with my moment of the day? Well, our Turkish host happened to be in DC for a couple of days, so eight of us drove down from Philadelphia to have dinner in Silver Spring with her and our resident professor of the trip. Basically, we spent almost six hours on the road to have a two hour dinner. It was totally worth it. We were missing three members of our group, but it was amazing to see most of us together once again. My moment came on the way back, when my friends and I were singing along to the Rent Soundtrack. We were singing that song, "No Day But Today", albeit a bit off-key, and I was just hit with all that song has meant to me in my life. This musical came out when I was in high school, and I aspired to live like there was no day but the present. Now, over ten years later, I've fulfilled a bit of this philosophy by daring to travel with 12 strangers for 6 weeks throughout Turkey, some of whom have turned out to be my best friends. 

"Shut it down!"

Sometimes, there comes that one moment of the day when you know for certain that you have gone too far to the extreme. I started seeing a chiropractor recently for headaches. I've had headaches for most of my life, and nothing has really helped long-term. In fact, I've seen two chiropractors before this. This chiropractor of course assured me she was different. Shortly after starting the treatment, she asked to see a three day food diary. I submitted one, confident that she would be impressed with my quinoa bread for breakfast, and my relatively healthy diet full of veggies and good stuff (save some chocolate, wine and cheese here and there). On the contrary, she told me that I was pumping my body full of toxins and that cleaning these toxins out would change my life. She told me I had to go on a two week all-natural diet. What's that, you might ask? Oh, it's just organic meat, veggies, fruit, and eggs. That's it. No grains, no cheese, no milk, no yogurt - not even potatoes (too starchy). She said even cooking with olive oil was toxic. Easy, right? Um, not exactly. Unlike the gluten-free or paleo diets which I consider difficult to deal with, this meant I couldn't even eat in a restaurant. What was I supposed to do, ask everyone if their food was organic and cooked in coconut oil? My chiropractor told me that she just cancelled her social plans when she was eating all-natural, which she said she did several times per year. She wondered why so many of my social plans revolved around eating. So, quaking in the face of her judgment, I tried it for a bit. Well, a full 6 days. After spending more money than I care to admit in the grocery store, obsessing about food 24/7, and watching one friend eat a bagel while I sipped my water at the bagel shop, today I finally snapped. I was heading to my chiropractor appointment, ready to be grilled about my menu choices of the day. It may have been the empowering email from my mom, or the call from my grandma where she told me to "take care of Julie", or my friend texting me to ask how this diet was going. I realized in that moment that I am 31 years old, and that I am perfectly capable of making good food choices for myself - in moderation. An all-natural diet is just too extreme for me. So, in the famous words of "30 Rock", I decided to "Shut it down." My chiropractor of course judged me when I told her. In my mind, I devised witty retorts.

"Auntie Julie, it's your turn!"

I met my good friend's baby girl today, who is just over a week old. She is adorably precious, and like most babies, slept almost the entire time I was there. I saw her eyes only briefly as she squinted up at me like, "Who the heck are you??" While I was ooing and ahhing over the new baby, I played Candy Land with her other kids, ages two and four. I was a bit distracted by the baby, so I told them to go ahead and pick my cards, and to move my player on the board. They kept saying, "Auntie Julie, it's your turn!", and I kept reminding them that it couldn't be my turn EVERY time. I thought they were trying to be generous to help me win. Then, my friend and I realized that although they kept drawing cards for me, they were not moving my player forward at all! Well, both of them won, of course. So much for the goodwill of, "Auntie Julie, it's your turn!" Little tricksters.

Too old to crowd surf

Tonight, at a ska band, I saw several people doing this:

And this:

Even this:

It's like a "Where's Waldo?" to find the people crowd-surfing, but they're there. As I watched person after person throw themselves into the crowd, nearly always almost being dropped and having to be carried like a baby by one of the security guards near the stage, I didn't think of all the fun they must be having. Instead, I gasped to my friends about all of the injuries one could sustain when relying on total strangers to hold their body up. I almost wanted to go up to them and say, "Don't you think you should think about this a little bit more, before you break one of your bones?" Luckily, I kept my cool - at least outwardly. Inside, I was mentally shaking some sense into them. I'm officially too old to crowd surf. 

Bonding in Bank of America

It seems pretty improbable that you can have a memorable moment in a Bank of America ATM. Yet here it is. I was rushing to get home after a long day, and almost collided with an older woman when walking into the Bank of America ATM. Instead of telling me to watch where I was going (like a true Philadelphian), she offered to let me go ahead of her in line. I must have given her an incredulous look, because she told me she actually wasn't waiting to get money. She was waiting to "thaw out" from the cold. We exchanged pleasantries about the weather (and how cold it was) for a couple moments, and then she told me that she wasn't really used to the cold because she was from the South. Due to my Southern roots, we started having a much more in depth conversation. Many a Bank of America customer became annoyed at the fact that we were blocking the door. We didn't tell any of them to watch where they were going.