Slog slog slog

Well, the good news is that I talked to one of the secretaries at the USOE (Utah State Office of Education), because lord knows that secretaries are the ones who really run things, no matter what the business. She told me that my license had been issued last week, but she wasn't sure if it had been mailed yet. She said she would follow up with that and if it didn't show by the end of the week to give her a call back.

So. If the District office looks in their computer records, it will show that I am licensed to teach secondary ed in the state of Utah. Unfortunately, the private tutoring companies don't have that access. So. I'm hoping that the paper will appear in my mailbox very very soon.

But other than the minor inconvenience of not being fully employed (the money issues), the break from "full time" work has been nice. I put full time in quotes because I wasn't really full time last term either. But close enough. So I get to sleep in every other day for at least another week... then I should put in to start subbing on my off days... and get back to the Sylvan people about evening tutoring, as well.

In the meantime, I'll just keep reading through my mountain of books from the library, writing as much as I can, and perhaps even finishing up with my painting project that I started last summer... oh, and going to the gym, too. The goal for this year is to shrink my ass by a third. I'll let you know how that goes...

Ho Hum

I feel like I'm stuck in some sort of holding pattern here. Like I'm in some sort of odd loop. I feel like my days go by so quickly, and yet nothing really happens. I feel like I'm always getting ready for bed, but what did I really accomplish during my waking hours? I don't know, but maybe that's why I haven't had much to say here.

I've gotten some writing done. A whopping 1200 words in the last two weeks. I just can't get into it. Into anything. But I'm not really depressed or anything. I know how that feels, and this ain't it. I feel like I've misplaced my attention span.

I'm still trying to get a response from the Utah State Office of Education, one of the largest collections of useless bureaucrats. It's now been 27 weeks since I first filed my application for licensure. Their website advertises a 20 DAY turnaround. UNofficially, they tell everyone 6-8 weeks. Note the discrepancy. Sadly, without the licensure, I'm kind of screwed. I can't substitute teach in my district because signing up to sub would bring attention back to the fact that I still don't have my licensure, which might make the job I do have somewhat more iffy. I've had an offer from one of the big "supplemental teaching" (aka: tutoring) centers, but they can't hire me until I have license in hand. So basically, the state of Utah has found yet another way to fuck me over.

Maybe this odd state of mind is the result of my trying really hard to just "go with the flow" and not be stressed and not be depressed and not be all bitchy about how fucked up living here has been for me.

Could be.

Well well well

It seems that I won't be jobless after next week afterall. Not that I'll be in a good position, exactly, but at least I'll have some source of steady, reliable income. The school decided to add two reading classes and asked me to teach them. So it's only a 1/3 contract, but they arranged the schedule so I only teach three days a week (because we're on the screwy block schedule - four classes meet each day Mon-Thurs and all 8 meet on Friday), so I will be able to sub two days/week, plus afternoons for the other part time teachers who only have afternoon classes.

And if my licensure ever comes through, I could get that part time job with Sylvan Learning Center and do a few evenings a week there.

The only bad news is that I seem to have picked up a nasty bug at school this week. I was fine until Friday afternoon and then it hit me like a brick. Ugh. So I had to fight my way through this morning's Praxis exam (French: Content Knowledge) with fever and chills and a handful of kleenex. My nose is rubbed raw and I feel like someone's been beating me around the head and shoulders. Gah. Definitely one of the drawbacks to working with kids.

Happy New Year!

Just because I went to bed at 11:30 last night, that doesn't mean I don't know how to have fun. Really.

Started the year off right with a 6 mile cross country ski up Millcreek Canyon with Jay. Got there early enough to beat the crowds and enjoy the new snow. Lots of puppies on the trail coming down though... but not a single collision close call this time.

The Utah Writing Monkeys are starting to schedule meet'n'writes, which can only improve my chances of finishing the NaNo book. I think I need to external motivation to get cranking again. I reread parts of my NaNo WIP (that's National Novel Work in Progress, for the acronymically challenged), and it's not nearly as bad as I feared. A little wordier than it needs to be, and there are certain gaps in logic to be fixed, but I'm happy enough with it to feel good about pushing on to the end before going back to fix the inconsistencies.

And with that thought I will return to cruising other people's blogs and drinking my pomegranate cosmo. Yum. (citrus vodka, grand marnier, lime juice, pomegranate juice - I know it's not REALLY a Cosmo, but it's close enough.)