Author Archives: mathdreads
NYE’s Revelry 2011
As I busied myself washing clothes and unpacking from my weeklong Christmas vacation with my family, I came across the gift my nieces and nephew had given me: a mesh sponge, body wash and hand lotion. I put the mesh sponge in my gym bag, the lotion in the bathroom and paused when I thought … Continue reading
Christmas 2011
My sister, Renee, and her family, once again, hosted us for Christmas. Ten people and two bathrooms, lots of good food and even more good laughs. And much to my surprise, no cold! I came busting out of Dulles Airport fully bundled, complete with a knit ski cap and immediately started stripping–only down to my … Continue reading
Half Day Vacation
Christmas vacation has already started for me since we’ve been on half days since last Thursday. For the first time in the three years that I’ve been teaching at my current high school, all four of the exam days are “early release,” which means my professional stress level has gone dramatically down. Even with the … Continue reading
Work = mad
As the semester draws to an end, one would think that I would spend a great deal of my time preparing final exams and their accompanying study guides, but the school administration has geared up a final kick of its own. We’re now spending too much time in too many meetings “analyzing student data.” Once … Continue reading
Let It Rain
I’m so happy for the overcast, misty skies, given our triple-digit, drought conditions in the recent past. Yet, I live in Austin and the best thing about this vibrant city is having far more things to do than humanly possible–rain or shine! Part one of my Saturday morning involved writing the last of my 19 handmade … Continue reading
Not in Hot Water!
This past week has been my favorite work week of the school year: two days at work, followed by five days off. Some students reminisced about the good ol’ days when they got the entire week off, but I reminded them that any time off was a good thing. During the school year, my life … Continue reading
The Never-Ending Saturday
I unofficially woke up much earlier than I’d intended, thanks to my mysterious smoke alarm that would start randomly beeping at thirty-second intervals for 5 minutes or so. Just when I’d fall asleep about 45 minutes later, it would start up again. I’d reported it three times, starting with last Friday morning. A maintenance guy … Continue reading
Just Like Riding a Bike?
I had taken a break from tango classes over the summer just to free up my schedule and pursue other interests. When I returned three months later in September, I was a little rusty, but quickly got up to speed. I’m such a busybody that I had not managed to attend a milonga until last night–in … Continue reading
“Morticia Addams”
I believe in celebrating Halloween like a celebrate my birthday, over a period of time. Anytime I get to dress up more than once in order to observe Halloween, I’m very happy. I don’t know if there’s any deep, pyschological meaning behind dressing up as someone else for a period of time other than using … Continue reading
Halloween 2011
This Halloween, I got a clue early and bought my ticket for the Zombie Ball. I’d heard about it last year, but had gone out of town during my favorite celebration. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise since this year’s Zombie Ball was held in my new favorite venue, the Moody Theatre. As par … Continue reading