who are you

It's possible I've been working at the grocery store for FAR too long, but lately I've been more irritated than usual. In particular, there are three "customer profiles" who have really been on my last nerve lately:

1. The 8:00am Sandwich
I will never understand the customers who come in just moments after we open and ask for a sandwich. What is the thought process behind these orders? Does one wake up in the morning and think, "Hmmm, I think a pepper turkey sandwich with honey mustard and avocado would be the perfect companion to my cappucinno to really start this day off right"? Why in God's name do you need a hot pastrami sandwich on a sourdough roll in order to read the New York Times? What's wrong with just a croissant? We sell those too, you know.

2. The Food Critic
Things I hear almost every day:
"Your tuna salad is too sweet."
"Your oven roasted turkey is too dry."
"Your curry chicken salad needs more curry."
"Your curry chicken salad has too much curry."
"Your roast beef is too rare."
"Your ham is too fatty." etc, etc ad naseum.

Listen up, folks. If you don't like our food, don't buy our food. Get your potato salad at Andronico's where they don't put celery in it. I'm not going to stop putting bacon in our pesto chicken pasta just because you don't eat pork. If you're going to be so damn picky, brown bag your lunch and leave me alone.

3. Homo Impatientus
OK, this one really gets me. Imagine me making a sandwich for a customer who is standing right there. I'm wearing gloves, slathering mayo, slicing corned beef. And then I hear, "Excuse me? I need a BBQ brisket sandwich". I turn around. Surely, the brisket customer is not talking to me as I am obviously helping someone else. No, no they are definitely talking to me. What is it about the sandwich half-made in front of me that makes this customer think I am free to help them right this very minute? Do they think I am bored and therefore just making sandwiches to pass the time? Do they really anticipate me abandoning the customer I am helping at the moment to tend to their beck and call? Yes, as a matter of fact, they do.

Ah, Palo Alto....

wind in your hair

I just found out I'm being given zero dollars to set up my classroom this year. This is a serious bummer because I need books for my students in a major way. I can't very well teach an English class with no freaking books in my room, can I? Gosh, money sucks.

If you have any young adult novels you can donate to my cause, I would seriously appreciate it and would probably bake you cookies. No books but you have some extra cash? Consider adopting my classroom so I can buy some much needed supplies.

dream me a dream

A literary update, if you will.

Vacation Readings So Far:

• The Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andrew Sean Greer
• Water for Elephants - Sarah Gruen
• The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy
• The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Up Next:

• Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• A Long Way Gone: Memiors of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

I've mostly done a lot of beach lounging and jewelry stall perusing and have been thinking in broad, vague terms about my classes this year and things I need to include on my syllabi and so, really, this vacation has been just splendid. I managed to convince my parents to leave the sanctuary of the pool and venture into the Iao Valley yesterday and we took some incredible pictures of the Iao Needle and wandered through the Heritage Gardens.

I'll try to get all of the pictures up on Picasa this afternoon.

Back to reality tomorrow night and then back to Davis before I know it. Crazy summer, indeed.

ready to be

Vacation is going well. Back on Saturday!

taciturn

I've had a few things I want to write about lately, including bad fashion at the gym, all things Harry Potter, my new boss at UCC (!!!) and word association games at work, but I'm just so tired. And I'm sort of sick of blogging. I don't know. Maybe later?

driving the darkness away

I love teaching with all of my heart, but it's really hard sometimes. Maybe that's why I picked it?

I titled my blog The Daily Grind because I felt it represented the mundane aspects of what we do. The movies love to show teachers winning the battle against poverty, low expectations, and hopelessness. I knew going in that teaching is far less about cinematic presentations than about the daily grinding towards a goal. The Apostle Paul encouraged us to press on towards that goal, and by press on, I suppose he meant take it one moment at a time... -Mr. McNamar @ The Daily Grind

i aint got the time

By popular demand, here is a brief list of some good books I can recommend just off the top of my head. Most of my library is actually packed up in Davis, so this is, of course, not extensive. But if you're looking for some good poolside reading this summer, it's not a bad place to start.

• The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
• The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffeneger
• Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
• Wicked, Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire
• Memiors of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
• Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
• The Namesake - Jhumpra Lahiri
• Brick Lane - Monica Ali
• Song of the Cuckoo Bird - Amulya Malladi
• The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
• The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough
• The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett
• The Glass House: A Memior - Jeannette Walls
• Old School - Tobias Wolff
• The Secret History - Donna Tartt
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, & Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde

I, of course, have an enormous stack of books to read in Hawaii, which I'll report on when I get back home.

the roof is on fire

As though the recent fires in Tahoe and Palo Alto and the terrorist attacks in London aren't bad enough, The Simple Way Community Center in Philadephia (home of Shane Claiborne's ministry) was destroyed in a major fire earlier last week as well. They're slowly rebuilding with the help of the communtiy as well as the eight families whose homes were also destroyed in the fire, but a lot of damage was done and a lot of loss occured.

You can donate to the Rebuilding Fund and the Kensington Families Fun here, but your prayers will do just as much good. The Simple Way is an incredible ministry doing unbelievable work in downtown Philadephia with the mission "To love God. To love people. To follow Jesus". Already, in the midst of rebuilding their homes, they have convinced the city to transform part of the H Street Lot (where the fire originated in an abandoned warehouse) into open space for a much needed park and recreation space.

If you're unfamiliar with Shane and his work at The Simple Way, check out his book The Irresistable Revolution. It will probably change your life.

on my list

A summer reading list is forthcoming (before Hawaii, I promise), but for now, here are some blogs that I especially enjoy:

• Back of the Cereal Box
• baby daddy / The Reflective Teacher
• The Pensieve
• The Bad Baby Names Blog
• Huff English
• Engaged and Underage (the blog might even be better than the show!)
• Beyond Hogwarts
• Paperclipppy
• Lifehacker
• Magnificent Monotony
• The Cake Blog

somehow here again

Daniel leaves for Japan tomorrow.

I'm experiencing some serious déjà vu here. I swear, hasn't this happened before? Hopefully this one will come back...

nothing but a summer jam

Well, it's officially summertime. I know this because my dad has been doing a lot of grilling and I've been doing a lot of... nothing! Finally!

My little summer school class is just awesome. I have about 12 kids and we have been reading books and doing art projects and telling riddles and just having a super time every morning. I've been working a few 4-hour shifts for my dad as well (our business has boomed ever since we recieved the Tall Tree award for Outstanding Business not too long ago), but overall it's just nice to relax, lay out by the pool, read some good books, and not worry about much of anything aside from packing for Hawaii in three weeks (I'm already dreaming of Mai Tais and fresh pineapple, believe me).

I cruised up to Davis yesterday for a meeting with WJUSD to finish up some paperwork and get all of my health insurance stuff figured out. I also swung by WHS to pick up my books for next year. I'm teaching 2 periods of English 9, 1 period of Senior Literature & Composition, and a 2 hour ELD block. I'm super excited about Senior English, which focuses on British and World Lit. The anthology is awesome and includes excerpts from Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, the Decameron, tons of great poetry, and a lot of really great Holocaust material too. I can't wait to start planning!

But right now, it's dinnertime. I've missed my mom's cooking.

to take me away

I walked out the front doors of Hiram Johnson High School for the very last time today. I might not be exaggerating when I say I did a little dance as I got into my car.

Because I won't be in class on Thursday to give students their final grades, I emailed the student from the previous post to let him know about his final grade and tell him how proud I was of him. Today, I got this in response:

You just made my day. I'm glad i was able to have the chance to be your student for the second semester and I have not problem at all keeping in touch i think that is a wonderful idea. Maybe i'll send you some of my 10th grade english work i complete next year and you can let me know wat you think. Well Ms. Garcia its been a honor.

Awesome.

I graduate tomorrow and will probably take a little blogging break as I move back home and start my new teaching gig. Here's to summer (finally)!!

impossible things are happening everyday

Things are really winding down now! Tonight we had an English cohort party at Val's place and I'm giving my last final tomorrow morning. Then... graduation! I can't believe I'm actually done.

I have such incredible news I just can't contain myself. I have one student in my English 9 class who I have just totally fallen in love with. If you remember, he is the one who did very poorly last semester, but got really into Romeo & Juliet back in February. He's been hovering just below a D- all semester and I've really been encouraging him to get his work done and study hard for the final. Well, he completed an incredible project when we finished reading the Odyssey and got a 90% on his final today, bringing his grade in my class up to a C-. I'm so proud of him and just feel so... fulfilled, I guess is the best word to describe it. Like, I made a difference. A real difference. That's awesome.

what i got

I'm stoked to see that my boy Kelley Jimenez is doing well, coming out with a new album, and generally making awesome music all over Southern Cali.

I'm even more stoked to see that he's still playing "Save Tonight" at almost every single show, the very first song we ever performed together way back in the day during our junior year at St. Francis in the Little Theater, of all places. It served us well then and I'm pleased to see it's still doing it's job.

Man, that's such a good song.




Edit: And what do you know, I actually still have the original recording here (with the incomparable Greg VanBuskirk on drums, of course). Whoah.

you move along

I presented my research today! It's over! I can breathe again!

You can check out my presentation here. It's actually pretty interesting and my research held up, which was super exciting. Overall, I'm glad I did it, but it sure was a pain and a whole lot of work and a bunch of stress over presenting, which ended up being no big deal at all. But still. It's done.

I give finals next week and then head home for a glorious 8 weeks of Mom's cooking and lots of napping. This is the first summer that I'm not actually "working". I mean, I'm teaching summer school, but I've got 9 sixth and seventh graders for an hour and 20 minutes every morning. That's not teaching. That's... playing.

I just can't wait to really, truly, legitimately relax for the first time since August 15.

a million miles away

They are webcasting my graduation! You can watch me graduate at 4pm next Wednesday June 13th right here. Mark your calendars!

Yes, I'm actually walking this time. Amazing, I know.

Aaaaaand, I finished my research slides! And my credential-year portfolio! And my finals! I am amazing! And done!

apologetically dressed

I have a feeling this will be useful next year, as I write my master's thesis of doom. Ugh. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

I have a ton to complete today, so I'm looking forward to a lot of coffee and random email/RSS feed checking (you know, when I take "breaks" and whatnot). I just want all of this crap to be done. I took my US Constitution exam (long story) on Friday and think I did well enough to pass, have my CPR certification this Thursday after I present my research slides (I'll put a link up when they're done, I'm actually really proud of them), and have yet to write a final for my ELD class.

Last night the ADX actives had a sort of BBQ thing for all the alumni. Daniel and I went and it was... interesting. I had a really nice chat with Bo and it was great to see Katie and Lindy and some other girls. In general though it all felt kind of... forced and I was glad to get home and (amazingly) continue working on all my stuff. I don't know, I guess I just don't know how I feel about the group these days and definitely don't know how to put those feelings into words.

Aaand, back to work. 10 days!

sail you home

For anyone who is unaware, I love Harry Potter. Love, love love. Recently, I've been rereading Books 4, 5, & 6 and discussing my views on Snape with anyone who will listen.

(I've been waffling between good and evil, but after chatting with Alex last night and rereading the end of Book 4, I'm sticking good. Snape is good! Mark my words!)

But this... this is going too far. Even for me.

we move along

I got some long-overdue validation this morning from the most unlikely of sources: an ex-boyfriends now-ex-girlfriend.

It's just good to know - even now, over 3 years later - that someone knows how I felt and recognizes that I wasn't completely irrational or unreasonable and that even though we will probably never be friends because, although we share the same experience it is a painful one, at least we have that shared experience.

I've missed you, but I haven't miss you all the same. The thing that drew me to you in the first place was what pulled us apart and while I can't say I regret that it happened at all, if I could go back I would change a few things.

leave my wings behind me

When I log into my personalized iGoogle homepage every morning, these little guys greet me:


At other times in the day they are playing badminton, practicing karate, having a picnic, or roasting marshmallows, but the morning scene is my favorite, because I'm usually drinking coffee too. It's weird, but it makes me feel like everything is going to be great that day.

I'm late leaving for school, but there are only 14 days left!