a ruby a day

We haven't done a Ruby and mama sweaty-post-workout-lying-on-the-floor selfie in a while. I know you missed this.

Also, does it may me more of a cat lady that I am postponing for as long as I can packing for my next trip because it stresses Ruby out? Wait, actually...don't answer that. 

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”
―Paul Farmer

final AP reading numbers

1,800 essays graded!

Each tick mark represents a packet of 25 essays, and yes: we really do count the packets like prisoners in movies count the days on prison walls. 

But now that I have been back in Houston for almost a week, I've forgotten how painful it was the read all those packets. Amnesia!

what i'm listening to right now

i'm currently binge watching season two of rectify, a fictional tv show that imagines what life is like for a man, his family, and his small town when he is released from prison after 20 years on death row.  this song played over the credits recently, and i thought it was beautiful - and then discovered that it's a band i know and love!

"the wine we drink," by drew holcomb and the neighbors:

i am not a religious person.  let's start there.

but i worked for six years at an episcopal school, and it was really a very important experience for me.  there were things i was quite skeptical of (the virgin birth) and things i questioned (raising millions for a new church when that money could be put towards easing suffering).  but i saw religion used for so much good - to build schools in haiti both before and after the earthquake, the fundraise to pay for tuition for haitian kids, to teach kindness and love to those around us.  the episcopalians are incredibly welcoming, and that school welcomed me in so many ways, not just during those weekly chapel services.

if you take the god out of it, all of the lessons of jesus are ones we can follow and should follow and are hard to follow but are ideals we should aspire to.

i learned some songs in those weekly chapel services that have become very special to me: god of our fathers, seek ye first, and this one, which we sang frequently during my last year at the school:


since hearing about the shooting in the charleston church i have been thinking of this word and this song frequently: sanctuary.  this morning, after NPR reported on the first services back in that church since the shooting, i played this song off of youtube on my drive to work and cried and then played it a second time.

sanctuary:
1. how horrific that a church - a sanctuary - could be breeched in this way.  though a church is not my sanctuary, we cannot deny that for many it is quite an important one.
2. my job as a teacher and our job as a school is to be a safe space, an ear to listen, to take students as they come.  i don't think i had put it in those words before this morning.  i have been repeating that phrase: i'll be a living sanctuary.

birthdays at work are a big deal…as in, there must be a cake and a card and singing and eating.  so maybe that is an ordinary deal, but at my old job we didn't have this birthday tradition.  we went out to breakfast at waffle house on a work friend's birthday, which is a fantastic tradition in and of itself.  but i digress.

i am the birthday coordinator, because taking care of people with food gives me great happiness.  when i have time i bake a cake instead of buying one at the grocery store. for my colleague scott's birthday a few weeks ago, i made a banana pudding poke cake, which facebook had told me and scott about independently and we had decided it must be tried.  it felt pretty white trash but tasted pretty amazing.  yellow cake it poked with the handle of a wooden spoon and then banana pudding is poured over/into it, the cake is covered with cool whip, and then at the last minute you add fresh bananas and nilla wafers to the top.

it was consumed with gusto.

a ruby a day

Sunday morning with Miss Ruby:

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004), Psychiatrist and Author

a photo a day

i am tearing through some books this summer - i almost only brought one book to salt lake city, and then threw a second one in at the last minute…i finished the first book in two days and almost finished the second.  both excellent - you'll hear more about them in my june book review.  life is good.

i compared my ongoing "to read" list with what my school library has on the shelves, and grabbed three more books today - there are no due dates during the summer, so i can take as long as i like to read these.  and then what appeared in the mail?  the book and course pack for the summer professional development seminar on the supreme court that i'm attending in california in late july.  aaaaand now i've got a lot of reading on my plate. :)

a screenshot a day

You might think you are reading that humidity level incorrectly, but you're not. Welcome back to Houston!

what i'm listening to right now

he has a beautiful voice, and i have loved discovering this song (thank you, pandora!).

"my stunning mystery companion," by jackson browne:

AP reading update...

…because you know you want one.

yesterday we finished reading all the essays for our alternate exam question and got retrained on an operational (aka regular) exam question.  i do not like this new question.  it's a bit harder to score (you have to read super closely and at points infer what a kid means), but i will survive.

today i read 275 essays, for a total of 1,325 read over the five days of the reading so far.  two more days to go, and i'm "just" 221 essays away from my share of the reading.  it sounds like we're on track to finish, but not necessarily finish early.  ugh.  but we'll make it!

last night there was a very fun game of thrones watching party with my friends and tonight is dine out night, where the college board pays for our dinner at a nice-ish restaurant, so i'm not complaining too much.  onward!

(houston, please don't wash away while i'm gone.)

a photo a day

after i finished reading 400 essays yesterday, my friends angela and tamasine and i drove into the mountains near salt lake city and went on a mini hike.  the temperature dropped as we got higher in elevation, so it was in the 50s at 7pm as we were walking around.  beautiful!  and we saw a moose!  afterward, we went into park city and had dinner (taking some crazy mountain roads to get there), then headed back to salt lake and to bed.  hooray for a little excursion away from civilization!

a Ruby a day

Missing this snugglebug, who loves to live up to cat stereotypes (playing with a ribbon is just one of her many favorite things to do)!

a screenshot a day

the AP reading started today!  at the beginning of the day they put us all in this big room and tell us the rules and how many readers there are for the government exam and how many exams there are (and each exam has four essays), and i knew the exact numbers at the time, so i did the math.  the number of essays i need to read to meet my quota?

yes, that sounds absurd, but the first year i read i beat that number by a lot and the second year i was just 20 shy of this.  i read 185 this afternoon, when they finished training us and let us read on our own.  obviously i kept track, since finishing a packet of 25 lets you stand up and stretch and put a tick mark on a piece of paper before you settle back down for 25 more.  you know what i'll be doing for the next six days.

but now: dinner + free beer at opening reception.  YES.

“We don't beat the Grim Reaper by living longer, we beat the Reaper by living well and living fully, for the Reaper will come for all of us. The question is what do we do between the time we are born and the time he shows up.”
—Randy Pausch (1960-2008), Professor and Author

what i'm listening to right now

when i first heard this song on the radio, i was certain it was some 80s song making a comeback…it just has that beat that i associate with 80s music, though in reality it's a song from just last year.  i really like it - "shut up and dance," by walk the moon:

a photo a day

A little tree that I am being asked to plant sit this summer while its owner is out of town. His name is apparently Seymour, and his owner is adamant that he is still alive. Ruby is skeptical. I will attempt to work miracles. 

Jiffy Lube mechanic: "Ma'am, your car is going to be ready in just a few minutes. I don't drive a standard, so I had to get someone else to pull it in so I could do the inspection."

Let it be known that on June 8, 2015 at 4pm Miss Claire felt competent around an auto mechanic for the first time in her life. 

what i'm listening to right now

how have i not yet posted a song by the waifs on this blog?  i LOVE their voices, and pandora has made them a staple on my playlists.  this one literally makes me dance around my apartment.

"when i die," by the waifs:

may: 10

this month i only read one book...and i didn't even read it - i listened to it in the car.  gah!  i will blame AP exams (i am the AP coordinator at my school and the event takes up my life for two weeks).  we're done with the school year, though - bring on the books!

the month i "read":

brain on fire: my month of madness, by susannah cahalan (this memoir chronicles the author's descent into what her family and doctors initially think is schizophrenia and almost institutionalize her for...and turns out to be a rare form of encephalitis.  really interesting to hear about how the disease manifested itself and how the doctors eventually figured out what was going on.  a little repetitive towards the end - and i do sometimes wonder how someone under 30 can write a memoir - but overall i enjoyed listening to this.  i wouldn't suggest you put it at the top of your list, but if you happen upon this book it was a worthwhile read.)