I met my small group tonight at Newgen. I'll have them for two years (7th and 8th grades), and I can already tell that we're going to have a great group. There are 5 girls (Haley, Kristie, Sarah, Kelsi, and Danyelle), and I have two co-leaders (Sonna and Stefanie). We didn't get a chance to do much more than introduce ourselves and chit-chat, but I can't wait for two weeks from now when we get to really dig into Bible study.

Plus, when I was introducing myself, I mentioned how I like watching MST3K, and so I explained it to everybody (as is par for the course - nobody knows about it anymore), and a few kids (and Sonna) said it sounded interesting. Now I know I'm going to get along with these girls!

I just wish I could get rid of this headache. Instead of centering behind my eyes, like usual, or sort of everywhere, it's centered on this spot about the size of a quarter/50-cent piece just above and behind my left ear. I took a nap this afternoon, so I don't think I can go to sleep just yet, so I guess I just have to make do for a while.

On a random note, The Beatles: Rock Band comes out in a week - it shall be epic. My sister and dad like a wider range of the Beatles' catalog than I do, but I still can't wait to play it.

Okay, I've been away from this for far too long. Here's what's been going on in the month(!) since I last posted...

Gleanings was great. I had a cabin of 13 amazing girls, and I had a blast, despite: all that junior-high girl-drama I wanted to avoid; the fact that allergies, spice powder and dust, and one of my girls' flu-ish bug conspiring to keep me from breathing; and a few boys' game of "let's annoy everyone we come across." As a group, we packaged near to one million servings of vegetable soup, probably cleaned one thousand buckets that will be filled with dried fruit this summer, and made/fixed more drying trays and pallets than any other youth group in at least nine years. We've got a great bunch of kids.

When I came home that Friday, on top of feeling completely drained, I found out that my bank account had become overdrawn because one of my Prudential paychecks didn't get direct-deposited, so I had to scramble to get things taken care of... it's a good thing I did, because I woke up Sunday morning with a 103-degree fever, and I was sick for at least half the week. The general consensus is that I had what-was-then-known-as-swine-flu, even though I didn't have all the symptoms. Whatever. The best part is that due to not eating all day Sunday, and then keeping it easy for the next few days, I lost five pounds. Which I've managed to keep off so far. Yay me! Another five and I'll actually have met a weight-loss New Years' Resolution for once. I guess I need to be flat-out sick more often.

While I was sick, I called in to work, because even though my fever hadn't broken yet, I felt okay enough to tutor, and I wanted to let my bosses make the final call as to whether I should come in. Turns out, though, that while I was gone, my kids got rearranged and I didn't have any left to tutor anymore. They all ended up at home tutoring, and I just didn't feel comfortable being in someone's home all by myself, so that's right. I came back from my missions trip sick and without a job. I knew it was going to be ending soon, but it was so abrupt, and combining it with being sick, life just sucked.

Thankfully, I got another student who needed to finish up her hours, but at the Learning Center (actually in Modesto instead of technically-in-Modesto-but-might-as-well-be-Ceres, and actually on my side of town - a mere 5 minute drive!), so I got some more hours... she's a busy (read: fairly hyper) kindergartener who might be borderline-Down's Syndrome, at least according to a tutor I share the classroom with and was apparently a superintendent for who-knows-what-district for who-knows-how-long... in other words, I don't know whether to believe him, and I don't have any experience spotting it, so I can't say. The point is, that she would rather play around than work on learning her letters, and even though it's frustrating, and every day I work with her I am reminded of why I decided to teach high school, but I can't blame her after being in school for all those hours and then coming straight to another two hours of tutoring.

Anyway, I also have another job lined up - I get my old temp position back from last summer working with the county starting on the 15th and going for 6 weeks. And it actually pays better than tutoring, just because I'll work more than 2 hours a day. So I'm still looking for a job - one with medical benefits, because I don't like the idea of not being covered and these wisdom teeth have got to go - but in the meantime I'll still be able to have some spending money, and buy that title I've been wanting for so long. :-P

Oh, and I bought a new book - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is a great book, and won tickets to Star Trek last night, which blew my mind with its untold levels of awesome.

There, I think I'm pretty much caught up - a lot of the rest of the time was full of getting better or being lazy.

Location daybed Mood determined Music Seether - Careless Whispers Tags: argh, newgen, seriously?!?, sick, update, work

So, in a few short hours, I leave for Gleanings for the week (we get back Friday afternoon). People of the praying sort, I could definitely use some prayer, as there will be about 45 junior highers, mostly girls. Last time there was a group trip, camp was nearly ruined by that special junior high brand of girl-drama, so sanity, peace, and at a minimum, civility, are tops on my request list.

Oh, and also for safety, as there will be some large equipment involved. Which reminds me, I forgot to pack my tennis shoes...

See you guys in a week - and happy Easter!

Tonight was Dodgeball Night at Newgen, and since I do indeed have a cold (blech), I decided that I wasn't going to be running around and playing, since I'd have to stop every few minutes and blow my nose anyway. I ended up sitting in the sound booth and manning the CD player. And eating some rather spicy nachos, which fortunately managed to clear up my sinuses for a while. Toward the end of the night, I had just eaten a rather nacho-cheese laden chip when... I can't even describe what happened. Nothing went black or anything, but it did get kind of shaky for a second. Suffice to say that I got a rather forceful dodgeball to my right cheekbone... if I were standing out in the open, it might have actually knocked me down instead of knocking me two inches into the wall. On top of that, my tongue was burning from the nacho cheese.

Everybody at church was very sweet, and the kid who threw the ball asked me about 6 times if I was okay. I think I would have been okay if I had taken it more to the forehead instead of to the cheek, and a few of my teeth are kind of hurting right now, but a few ibuprofen before I go to bed and I should be fine in the morning.

Before all this, though, I was talking about my trip to Cinematic Titanic (12 days!) to another Newgen leader, and she knew MST3K! Most of my friends don't know the show, so this was awesome. I pulled Katherine (iPod) out and showed her all the songs I have from their albums and we ran outside so I could play her a few of them. For the longest time I thought I was the only MSTie I knew, and now two ladies from Newgen have said they love the show... I should try to organize a watching party.

Point of the Anne Boleyn icon - I almost got my head taken off tonight... yeah, I need to go to bed.

ETA: Also, the person who decided to make cold meds taste like "cool ice" needs to be dragged out into the street and shot. Stuff is freaking nasty!

Mood sore Music When I Held Your Brain in My Arms - MST3K Tags: argh, newgen