Another Short Post With Lots of News

Ok here it is!

Earlier this month, I became officially certified to teach Special Education K-12. Go me. It took a year and three lame tests to get but I think it will be worth it. The other upside is that I am done with school again...at least for three years.

Shorty after getting the Spec. Ed. certificate, I applied for and got a new job. I am not teaching Special Ed. but I am working in an elementary school. Essentially, I am doing the same job I was doing, working with kids with issues, only now I am doing it in a school setting and getting paid pretty close to what I would make teaching and getting benefits. Teacher benefits are way better than what I get now but I haven't had health insurance for four years so I will take what I can get. Some is better than nothing. After being in a school for two days now, I can safely say I do indeed want to teach for the rest of my life. I feel so at home in that environment and I like the idea that I am helping out kids who actually need it. Right now, I am pretty happy with my new job.

But why end this post on a calm and serene note? Just before I got done at school today, I got a call...from the Meridian school district....from the head of the Special Ed department in the Meridian district. It looks like I will be interviewing for an actual factual Special Ed teaching job in the next couple of days. If offered the job I will take it. Period. Which sucks because I love what I am doing now and I just started it a few days ago. But I figure I have to look out for my career and I am going into the interview feeling like I have already won. If I get an actual teaching gig, great. If I don't, I still work at a job that I am really enjoying at the moment and only making a couple grand a year less than if I were teaching.

Stuff is looking up lately. Oh and Fall is here! I love Fall!!!!

School Is Done Once Again

Well, I did it. Yesterday, I took my last test for teacher certification in Special Ed. I am pretty sure I passed it and with that little battle won, I am pretty much certified to teach Special Ed. This is good. :)

If you can't tell, I have pretty much left this blog to crumble and decay. I am not sure what else to say, I just don't have the time or the patience to write on this anymore. Facebook has made life a lot easier and I find that since I don't seem too compelled to write on this anymore, the little status updates that Facebook allots me seem to be enough to quench my blogging urge.

Not a ton else has been happening. A few weeks ago, I had a sort-of-but-not-really girlfriend and now I have a sort-of-but-not-really ex. I saw that coming and can't say any of that really surprised me seeing we had nothing in common. When entering into a relationship with someone, it helps to have things in common. :)

Anywho, I wanted to post on here tonight for some reason unknown to me. I will probably post on here again but I don't know when. Life is going well and things are in motion now so that I may be able to actually start a career soon. I really need to get teaching again...and get a house...and kind of be a grown up.

My Six Rules.........That I Try To Live By Most Of The TIme.

When I was growing up, I had fairly simple expectations for my life. I knew I was not going to ever make a ton of money because I have never wanted to do much else other than teach. I think I had a fairly old fashioned view of how my life would go, I would graduate college, get married, get a History teaching job, have some kids, maybe travel a bit, live in a little house, and just kind of be average in my own right.

It is funny how things work out.

Now, I am an uncle....probably on track to fulfill the role of "odd uncle" but nonetheless, uncle. Since Broxton was born I have thought a lot about advice I would give him as well as my own kids when I stumble upon them. I don't know what got me thinking about all of this except that it occurred to me that my job is essentially telling other people how to effectively live their lives when I am not so sure the way I live mine is the best. If people ask me if I am happy, I can't give them a clear cut answer either way. Been better, been worse. People ask me if I really want to teach Special Ed, the answer there is "probably not" but it at least gets me teaching and I do know I want to do that. It isn't a matter so much of wanting to teach Special Ed, more than it is that I can teach Special Ed. People also ask me and joke about me moving away again. I think once you go far away people close to you are sometimes either afraid or eager for you to leave again. For the moment, I like Boise. In the future, I can't say I won't try to take some wicked vacations but I suspect with some regret and relief that my days of living in places not near here are over. I think I am growing up despite myself.

Things I will tell my kids and Broxton someday:

1. Don't expect your life to go as you have planned. I say this with no bitterness; it is the simple truth. I think for a person's life to go exactly how they expected it to go requires an exceptional person and circumstances. I don't know many people who are where they are today because that is exactly where they planned to be.

2. Be flexible, positive, and deal the best you can with whatever comes your way. This kind of ties into the first thing but being positive is the important part, though it is sometimes the most difficult. If you can find good in all circumstances and you find enough good, did anything bad actually happen? I read this in a book once and will probably get it tattoo'd on to me at some point, "Everything is the way it is because everything was the way it was." Look at where you are today, what happened to get you here? I like that quote because it sums up the importance of history and the past in one sentence. Good history, bad history, you are the person you are because of it. The same can be said for the world.

3. Be the person you want to be, do what you want to do. The only times I look back and think, "Wow, I was an idiot" were the times I was trying to be something I wasn't. The entire four months I thought teaching maybe wasn't for me is a fine example of this. Be true to yourself.

4. Be afraid as little as possible without getting yourself or others killed. This world and everything in it is an amusement park, enjoy the rides and learn from them. The more you do, the more you learn. Never stop learning.

5. Be happy as much as possible. Sometimes this is a hard one and it is one rule that, like I said above, I am not sure I follow as often as I should. The way I figure it, is that at the end of life, if you can look back and come to the conclusion you had more good times than bad, you had a pretty decent life. Don't waste more time than necessary being sad.

6. The last rule and most important, be a good person. Pick someone in your life that you know to be good and try to pick up as much as possible from them. Sometimes, there may not be a lot of good people that instantly come to mind and when that is the case, the one rule I follow that has never ever let me down is to do what I think would have made my grandpa proud. Happiness comes from good and rule five says to be as happy as you can as often as you can. This means you should try to do a lot of good.

One Semester Down, Two Classes to Go

As of a few minutes ago, I put the finishing touches on my last final project of the semester. This means that I have one summer school class and one independent study that I am doing this summer until I have done all of the school work for a Special Ed endorsement. I also have four tests that I am taking at different times this summer. After that, I am certifiably a Special Ed teacher. One cool thing about most education classes is that there are no final tests, yay! I had to knock out three projects but they went smoothly and I expect a 4.0 again this semester.

In other news, I am moving ahead with getting a modest house for myself. The townhouse I am looking at was made in 1980 but has been revamped on the inside. It is listed for $78,900 but I am going to initially make an offer for $70,000. I do not expect the owners to give it to me for that and figure the final cost of the home will be somewhere near $74,000. I am hoping they will end up covering the closing costs as well. This may sound like a lot to hope for but I know the house has been on the market for almost a year due to the crappy economy. I considered renting but for what my monthly payment on this place will end up being, it is almost pointless to throw my money down a rat hole. Financially, I know I can make all of the needed payments and I will be meeting with my bank later this week to make sure everything is in order there. Oh yeah, the place I am looking at is a two bedroom, one bathroom townhouse in Boise. It isn't fancy but it will be good for me and in the future, will make a great rental property when I get something better.

Overall, stuff has been going well lately. I am getting more clients at work which translates to more money. School is all but taken care of so I should be getting a teaching job this Fall or next Spring. I have also been dating more. This has happened with mixed results but hey, at least I am dating.

Oh oh, for anyone who has known me for a while, you know I have a small demon dog named, Lucky. I know there are those of you out there with scars and nightmares of him but you can all rest easier now. Lucky is being put down on Friday. He is 14.5 years old and deaf and blind. He also has bladder issues and we think his joints are putting him in pain most of the time so my family decided he needed to retire. I expect my mom to be inconsolable this weekend.

Housing Frustrations....Again

Went looking at a couple of houses tonight....they were both creepy and ghetto in their own special ways. This means that the house I was originally interested in is still my best bet when it comes to home ownership.

There are a couple of things that suck about this whole thing though. First, I like the house I am looking at but I don't LOVE it. I like it as a quaint little place I could live for a year or so and then rent out. I think the place would make an excellent rental property. The problem is that if I don't live in the house as my main residence for three years, I can't get that $8000 tax credit. Could I live there for a year, sure, past that it gets sketchy. Secondly, the place is really small. I have lived in small places before and this isn't a huge deal to me but if I am going to buy a house, I would like it to be a place that could hold a few people in the event of a party.

The downside to all of this is, until I know for sure that I have a teaching job, it is hard for me to legitimize getting a house that I would actually be cool with living in long term.

The next option is to stay in my parents' basement. This is smart because I save money here and I don't really have to pay anything. Man though, the social life is having a mean damper put on it because of this. Dating is...interesting. Having parties or people over is...odd. Dealing with the eccentricities of my parents and the dogs can be trying on the nerves.

That leaves me with one other option and that is renting. I hate this idea for numerous reasons. The house I would consider buying would have a mortgage payment about the same as a rent payment. I would have to commit to a lease for an apartment and it could very well be that I can get a house this summer or fall and then I would be stuck in the lease. The apartment I would end up in would probably be about the same size as that house too.

All I know is that the basement isn't working at the moment and each day gets a little more desperate. I need to get out of here. I need a place of my own. I need a better job. Man, why didn't I go into engineering like the rest of my friends? I just had to be a teacher. I am kidding about all of this...sort of.

Happy Easter!

So Easter is here! Today looks to be a pretty good day, I think my fam is going on a picnic and that should rock because it is really sunny today.

School is starting to wind down and then I have two Summer school classes to finish my Special Ed certification. I just want school to be done at this point. I almost don't even care about grades...just want to finish.

Not a ton of stuff has been happening lately. Actually that isn't 100% accurate; this week I went on a date on Thursday and then over to someone's house for dinner on Wednesday. Friday and Saturday were spent with Jake and Heather. My ambition has been bottoming out a lot lately, think I am just drained from school.

Anywho, not a ton to say. Just wanted to update for some reason...not totally sure why I write here anymore. I think it is habit or just not wanting this blog to die.

Holy Crap....701 Posts On Here

I know it has been forever and a day since I have put anything up here but as the title says, this is my 701st post. Go me!

To be truthful, Facebook is killing this blog. I don't get the time or the inspiration to write much on here anymore and Facebook serves my ambition much better, allowing me to write one sentence updates of how I am and what is going on.

So what the hell has been going on??

First and foremost, school. I found out on Friday that I will be able to complete all of my classes for my Special Ed certification this summer. What that means is as long as I pass the four tests I have to take (I need to get started on those) I should be certified to teach Special Ed by the end of the Summer. This means I should in theory, have a teaching job this Fall. If I can land a teaching job, this means I should be able to snag a house before October. If I can do that, then I get that kooky $8000 tax credit that Obama is handing out to home buyers. All of this falls into the timetable for the goals that I set for myself this year. I am excited and nervous all at the same time because one of the tests I need to take is a math test. I suck at math.

Other than school, I went to Oregon last weekend to visit my cousin and Dustin. While in Portland, I had a great time. On the way back home my clutch blew out and I had to be towed back to Portland for repairs. Two extra days and $700 later, my car ran like a dream once again and I was able to get back to Boise. Thanks to Dustin for tolerating me for two extra days.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked this one girl in a class I take to go out on a date with me. That simple question has spiraled down a rabbit hole that I had no idea was as deep as I am finding it out to be. The girl I asked out is semi-normal but her friends are FREAKS. Our date never ended up happened due to a couple of factors but I don't feel too bad about it. Reasons for my lack of caring:

A. The night I asked her out, we went to pizza with her friend Christina. I thought Christina was this goody goody Mormon girl. I have had a few classes with her and that is just the vibe she gives off. I was wrong. Christina is a sex fiend who uses this one dating website like her own personal catalog of men. After a few beers we started to talk about sex and I made the mistake of mentioning how long it has been since I have actually had sex...way too long. Both girls vowed to get me laid by the end of the month. Chistina made the off comment that her roommate would probably jump me just for fun. I thought she was being flippant. I was wrong.

B. After the night of pizza and drinking with the two girls and some of their friends, I agreed to go to a BBQ at Christina's house that Friday. Thursday came along and I got a text from Christina, inviting me to a game night at her house that night. I said sure and figured there would be quite a few people there. I was wrong again. It was Christina, here roommate, Kate, and me. Christina's roommate is a clinical nympho. Of this, I am absolutely positive. The entire time Kate would talk to me, she looked in my direction but was not actually looking at me. After a while of conversation, I confronted her about this because it was slightly unhinging. She then told me that she preferred not to look people in the eyes and liked looking at her own reflection in the window when possible. What. The. Hell. Over a game of Sorry, Kate started talking about these guys that she had slept with and while she was doing so, I was keeping a mental tally in my head. I had hit about five when she stopped and so in my mind, I figured she was talking about her lifetime batting average. I was wrong, she had slept with five different guys in the last week. On top of this, the weekend before I had met her, she decided she wanted to see what sex would be like with a guy in a wheelchair so she went to a bar, found a guy in a wheelchair, and proceeded to take him home. She said she would not do that again. Kate is messed up in ways beyond my previous scope of understanding. Kate scares me.

C. After Thursday night's game night of mild creepiness, I was barely looking forward to Friday's BBQ. But I had said I would go and I wasn't going to back out. I was also told that there would be more people at the BBQ. Christina was right about that, there were more people at the BBQ...and all of them were women. One of them was as old as my mom and was looking for a way to score some pot. WTF?! I left the BBQ early because Kate was making eye contact with me and signaling that I should stick around after the BBQ. I may be on a sexual drought that is on par with the Dust Bowl of the 1930s but I do not want an STD and the percentages for Kate having one are statistically pretty high. Which is a crying shame because Kate is pretty cute...and she does have a nice body...I do not want and STD...I do not want an STD...I do not want an STD.

Since the BBQ, Christina texts me all of the time. I am not sure why but whatever. I am trying to play it cool with this group of girls because I have to take classes with them and don't need things to get awkward. The upside is the girl I asked out was the least creepy of the bunch that I met. The downside is that all of the women I met are in Special Education to some extent. Special Ed teachers are freaks.