better day
Working with kids is like having multiple personality disorder. Some days, it's like you've struck gold with the kids and they are the smartest, most wonderful little bundles of joy. Other days, you want to grab them around the throat and teach 'em a thing or two. I'm not sure I like this rollercoaster ride of emotions. Today was a great day. I literally almost cried as I looked around the room at the angels sitting quietly doing their homework (okay, so one angel was messing around when my back was turned... at least he was good when I glanced over). While today's energy has given me a second wind, I'm a little bit unsure about developing a career in working with youth. I liken my feelings about working with youth to one of my co-worker's dysfunctional relationships. She was dating someone who wasn't really compatible with her. However, she stayed with her boyfriend because when it was good, it was really good. But, when times were bad, they were horrible. Hm. There's something dysfunctional about this dynamic.

venting
Today was one of those days that I think to myself, "How did I get here? At what point in my career decision-making process did I think this job was a good idea?" Whoever said that working with kids was a good idea was W-R-O-N-G. Okay, I'm done.

Rough day? You could say that. Today was the first day that one of the kids in my group was suspended. It was also the first day of program. I'm working on the second suspension. Let's see how day 2 goes.

taking hammer's advice
Tomorrow is the first day of the second semester of the afterschool program I work for. Despite the amount of work I've put into making this program work, I'm kinda dreading the first day. It's 11:30 and I should be sleeping instead of writing how much I'm dreading work tomorrow. Guess it's just like MC Hammer says: I gotta pray, (PRAY!) pray, (PRAY!), I gotta pray just to make it today. Should I ask God for wisdom? Or maybe more patience? Or how about praying that I will win the lottery...

blog-mania
I'm not mincing words today. Kristina -- you be crazy sista. I personally don't mind missing the beauty of snow, etc. The green mountains are pretty nice around here, especially when it's 65 degrees. Actually, I'm pretty weak sauce, so I even complain about the Northern vs. So Cal weather.

So blog madness has blown up with full force. It seems as if I get an "I got a blog!" e-mail every week. I know I'm not as old school as minsoo or some others, but the trend has surprised me. A part of me is unsure about this madness because it means that more people will be tuning in to my lame commentary on my life (via links on popular pages) and discovering that I've had a blog for a year and a half and haven't shared it with most of my friends. At the same time, it's good to be in touch with people via the web.

Work update... we have 45+ kids signed up for our program, which is AMAZING. Last semester we had 12 kids show up on the first day and maxed out at 21... This semester we're actually going to need a waiting list. Aw yeah. Program starts on Monday... I better start bracing myself.

blog war
Nice sell, Tricia. (read Tricia's blog.) To her attempts to diss my California, I only have one thing to say: Don't knock it 'til you try it. Believe me, once you go West coast you never go back.

*Sigh* I enjoy verbally sparing with my friends via blogger. It almost makes me believe that I'm actually in regular communication with my friends from NU. It's sad that I must "catch up" with my pals by reading weblogs or hearing the latest from whomever wanders out to Northern California. I was reading Hannah's blog and it made me want to go back to the days of dorm rooms, long talks until 2 a.m. and some solid girl time. I'm often surprised at how I became so close to women who came from different parts of the country and seemingly shared nothing in common with me except for my faith. I can't tell you how much I miss that. No matter how much I really try and replicate that out here, it never feels the same as hanging out at Norris drinking Italian sodas and speculating about our futures.

Ladies, I'm planning a trip out to Chicago sometime soon... after the snow, of course ;)

the flick n' float incident
My DSL connection is back up at my new apartment. Ahhh, now it feels like home.

How about another tale from middle school? (The middle school I work at, not a flashback from my middle school days)...

The afterschool program I'm helping to build at the school has already developed the reputation for being the new kids who screw around all day. Whenever anything at the school is misplaced, the kids are loud or there's a funny smell in the halls who do the teachers and administrators blame? Yes, the afterschool program. We have been accused of taking supplies (well, okay, some of our kids have sticky fingers), smoking in one of the rooms we use (even though none of the staff smokes) and not making the kids be quiet in the halls (okay, okay, you got us on that one.) We've had a pretty good streak, until this past week...

To recruit kids, we made a bunch of fun signs to hang above the halls. One of our most creative signs said, "Ever swam in a pool and watched a movie at the same time? Join Citizen Schools and do Flick and Float!" What is flick and float, you ask? The YMCA projects a movie onto the wall above the pool and kids sit in flotation devices and watch the flick. Yes, sounds like fun, eh? We thought that it would be a big draw. However, an hour after we put up the signs, we noticed that this particular one had been taken down. We suspected some punk kids did it. The next morning, the principal comes into our office holding the sign. He had taken it down after a few teachers pointed out the questionable content. Questionable content?!?! Apparently my co-worker had used all capital letters to write the sign. Unfortunately, when you spell "flick" using all caps, it looks like.... yeah, you guessed it. Fortunately, the faculty laughed it off and we used it as our schtick for the rest of the week.

Can't we do anything right? I feel like I'm on a sitcom sometimes...

a challenge
Right now minsoo and I are partners in fierce challenge. This challenge involves residency interviews and our NU Med school pals. As I read blogs from other NU friends vying for the relocation of our med school pals, I only have one things to say: 65 DEGREES IN JANUARY. Beat that sucka. Not to seem hostile or the least bit competitive, but tricialae and couscous, consider the gauntlet thrown. Pshaw, the 'Lou. California's the place to be. Bring it on.

paradise
I had the perfect weekend in LA (Redondo Beach to be exact). It took us 6 hours to drive from San Jose to Redondo including a stop at in-and-out in Kettleman City and a bathroom stop at the grapevine. We arrived around 3pm to mid-70 degree weather. Hannah (minsoo's sister) and I went to the beach and took in a spectacular sunset over the water. We also saw the paramedics and lifeguards rush to the aid of a woman who was hit in the head by a rock (apparently the woman and her husband were playing catch -- with a rock! She turned away and he clocked her in the head. Smart.) Hannah kept calling the lifeguard trucks the "baywatch trucks" and immediately fell in love with my hometown ("You live in paradise!").

Saturday I ate Dim Sum with my family and took Minsoo and Hannah to Hermosa to walk around. The warm sun was amazing. The two left for a wedding a few hours later and I went back to the beach with a few friends to watch the sunset. My friend and I went to El Burrito Jr for some yummy and dirt cheap mexican food. Then I hung out at a cool coffeehouse where there was live Jazz. I played a little bit of chess with some pals and headed home to wait up for the wedding folk.

I'm back in Northern California and missing home a lot. *sigh*

2003
Happy New Year! Here are some fun little personal stats to ring in the new year:
Occupation: Starting up an afterschool program for punky middle schoolers
Residence: Temporarily homeless. Will move into a new apartment Jan 10
Currently enjoying: VH1's "I love the 80's" special. Right now it's on 1983. Love it! A walk through memory lane...
Marital status: Single (and no, wedding bells are not in the immediate future!) but very happily with minsoo
Favorite new purchase: Badass (and very expensive) black leather knee-high boots.
The song I can't get out of my head: "Breathe In" by Frou Frou
One reason 2003 will be better than 2002: No freaky roommates (Hopefully.)