Wordless Wednesday: I don't go crazy

January Photo-a-Day: Week 4

January Photo-a-Day.  Prompts by Fat Mum Slim.

This past week has been so cold that I didn't really want to even take my phone out of my pocket to snap pictures outside.  It was so cold that I didn't show much more than my eyes when outdoors.  I was so cold that it hurt my eyes.  Because of that, most of my pictures are inside this past week.  Hopefully, this next week sees temperatures past the twenties.

January 21 - What you do

21. I love trying new things with my hair now that I don't look like Hey Arnold anymore.  I tried to blow it out and can now even put parts in my hair - with the assistance of a few bobby pins.

January 22 - Corner

22. This is a corner of my pre-war apartment elevator.  I like that it is winter and I don't have to touch the buttons without gloves or with my keys anymore.  They just seem as though they are icky.

January 23 - Electric

23. I like to shred items with my name on them that come in the mail.  I guess I am a bit paranoid, but I don't like my name and address to be in the trash and then wind up in someone's hands.  Same with private information and even prescription information.  I finally got a shredder here in NYC - didn't bring mine from StL.  Now I have eliminated a huge pile of papers and feel lighter.

January 24 - Stripes

24. I love my Uniqlo clothes.  They have some sort of heat technology that makes you warm without needing a lot of layers.  I have this striped tunic that I am in love with (also have it in tanish).

January 25 - Landscape

25. I found this shop where I would eventually get my printer.   I like the little bitty park that is across the street from it.  The shops are behind the trees.

January 26 - Together

26. I don't know why this man sitting across from we on the subway had on two watches.  I guess so he could tell the time two times as well when his hands are together.  I tried to take the photo all sly, but my flash went off as I accidentally hit the snap button before I even had it pointed right.  I tried to play it off, and got a better picture after sitting like I was just looking at ish on my phone for a few stops.

January 27 - Sun

27. I should have known this printer would not be the sunshine in my life when, as it was being transported up the conveyor belt to be handed off to me, it slipped back down and I heard it sliding and tumbling.  I should have known.  Instead, I figured it must be padded enough and took it home.  After setting it up, it printed every page completely black.  I called customer service and they said it was broken and needed service.  Now, I must figure out how to carry this big-a thing back down to the beautifully landscaped store and get another one.  So much for saving time on school prep this week.

Saturday Quote: Change your focus

Buses, chips, movies, and special cupcakes

Yesterday we were to take a group of middle schoolers on a field trip to visit a college in Queens.  Everything was ready - forms turned in, five dollars collected from each student, students who did not have forms or money already sent to a teacher's room to do school work that each teacher left for them to complete.

Perfect.  We were all posted up in the auditorium by 8:40.  The buses were to leave at 9:30.

We waited and waited and waited until about 9:20 and then the head of the field trip went to make a call to the bus company to be sure they were on the way.

There is a bus strike in NYC right now.

Until 9:25, we did not realize that the private drivers were acting as scabs for some of the school buses and would not be able to drive us on the chartered bus.

We had a dilemma and a few options:

1. take the kids on two subways and a bus, 
2. have the students stay at school and go to their regularly scheduled classes that they and the teachers had not planned for (most kids did not have any school materials with them), or
3. have the students sit in the auditorium and watch semi-educational-college-related movies the rest of the day.

We chose option 3.

I thought it would be fine since during the first film, the students were enthralled.  They even asked if the schools in the movie were real.  Some asked other college-related questions.  They were entertained, and quiet.  I enjoyed the movie myself.

Then we had lunch and then we offered the kids some snacks for the second movie.

The kids were not as peaceful during this movie.  I think several had seen it already, and they wanted to talk and gossip and cause some drama.

I wanted them to be quiet.

I didn't want them dropping their snacks on the floor, I didn't want them poking at each other and irking each other.

I just wanted peace.

I wish I could have offered them a different sort of snack, something I wish I could have cooked up for them to help the situation:

I hope the time does not come again soon when I have to, basically, babysit (mostly unstructured) a gang of middle schoolers.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Greetings

I'm so in love with this right now.   At first I thought it was going to be a sappy engagement thing, but it is so much better than that.

Imagine this type of greeting when you return from a tiring trip somewhere!

It actually made my no-longer-tough-ass almost shed a tear.

January Photo-a-day: Week 3

Photo-a-day challenge.  Prompts by Fat Mum Slim.

January 14 - Something yellow

14. Poetry on the subway.  "Like hot food/ I love you/ like warm/ bread & cold/ cuts, butter/ sammiches/ or, days later, after/ Thanksgiving/ when I want/ whatever's left" Kevin Young 1970.  I love the yellow colors and how it goes with the yellow seats on the train.

January 15 - An ordinary moment

15. I know, I know.  Last week, I harped on how much weight I've put on.  But one of my keys to taking it off it to not limit myself from the occasional treat.  I wanted ice cream, so I had some.  Then I went to my exercise class just a couple hours later.  It was delicious.  It was a nice, ordinary moment.  Hadn't had ice cream since fall; I got a small cup and only filled it a little over halfway.

January 16 - Two things

16. First thing, my new workout bag is perfect for carrying my clothes on those days when I go straight from school to workout.  It is also good as a purse. I didn't bring any to NYC and am tired of carrying my backpack around everywhere I go.
The second thing is a look at the nasty-ass pipes in the kitchen.  The one on the right started leaking.  I called the super, he didn't come for two weeks.  Called him again after two weeks when the pipe became completely dislocated from the top part of the pipe.  He fixed it by reattaching it.  I guess it was too much to hope that he would replace the whole pipe system.

January 17 - Ready

17. Here I am getting ready to go into my workout class.

January 18 - Shadow

18. Walking through Union Square on the way home.  Lots of shadows as the sun starts to set.

January 19 - Delicious

19. These are delicious, low-cal, and a nice crunch.  Not super filling, though, so don't know if I will keep getting them.

January 20 - Something you saw

20. Saw this on the way to Trader Joe's and sent the image to Kid Sis #1.  She has her adorable puppy to take care of and this is an easy way to get the things she needs and wants for her.  Why don't I ever come up with these cool ideas?!

Saturday Quote: Life shrinks or expands

Saw this quote on peaceimages FB feed.  I love it!

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

~ Anais Nin

January photo-a-day: Week 2

January Photo-a-Day; prompts from Fat Mum Slim.

January 7 - Street

7. I love the lines in this photo.  Reminds me of my days in photography class back in high school.  Lines going in so many different directions.

January 8 - Something beginning with 't'

8. No, I am not wearing a religious head covering.  On this day, I walked into the bathroom during my prep period and, as I was squatting over the seat, noticed that I had a three inch hole in the middle of my pants.  I had split my pants.  I had noticed that I have been putting on weight, but this is ridiculous!!

January 9 - Paper

9. Pretty cool idea.  Reading the article, it is not the entire area of Chelsea, but there are a lot of areas that will be wi-fi supported.

January 10 - One o'clock

10. A little after one was my prep period on this day.  I had a lot of grading to do hence the scoring guide for the essay.  I was also planning a lesson on apartheid.

January 11 - Water

11. I love my water bottle.  After I washed the silicony smell out of it, it is now perfect and folds down easily after I am done using it for easy storage in my bag.  And I love the color of it.

January 12 - Surprise

12. After splitting my pants on Tuesday, I guess it should have come as no surprise that my lower body measurements were bigger than they were last summer.  I'm growing.  And I don't mean mentally.

January 13 - Circle

13. I need to get back to my yoga and find some sort of cardio I can stick with.  I hate to be the ubiquitous new year, time to get in shape person - I never have done that, ever.  But this year, I am huge and I need to.

January first week photos can be seen on this page.

Saturday Quote: Don't wish harm on others

Playback gets no payback!

I'm dead!!

I almost choked when I heard this news.

I didn't realize a movie could do so poorly.

And I didn't realize Christian Slater could still be hired for an acting gig.

He was in some movie called "Playback" in 2012.  It only made 252 dollars opening night and $12 the following weekend.  Then it was shut down.

It's total gross was $264.

When I first saw an article about this, I assumed they meant millions.  But, no.  That is the total amount.  No millions, no thousands, not even one thousand!

Hilarious.

January photo-a-day: Week 1

January Photo-a-Day.  Prompts provided by Fat Mum Slim.

January 1 - Today

1. I had a pretty chill day to start off the year.  I slept in, ate some cereal and then jumped into this book for most of the day.  It is the novel form of one of my favorite movies of the same title.  It came back into the media when Hunger Games came out because people compared Hunger Games to Battle Royale.  I have not seen Hunger Games, but LOVED this book.  I thought the movie was great, but the book (like most times) was WAYYYYYY better.  I finished all 600+ pages in a few days.  First book I've read since mid-summer.  I am hungry for more great reading.

January 2 - Something new

2. After school, I headed over to the Wall Street.  The boo has been telling me how incredibly small the streets are in this area for years.  I understood, but didn't really get it until I was actually there.  It is unbelievable to me how the streets can be so small that only one car can fit and the buildings so incredibly tall that I couldn't even get them in a picture.  How were they built?  How did they fit the construction equipment?  This was really something new that I cannot get over.

January 3 - Heart

3. My boo fills my heart with love.  He knows that I don't like to be hungry and can get irritable if I get too hungry.  He had a stash of candy bars, little breath mints, and cookies from work.  I told him I didn't need any, but when I left for school the next morning, I felt this in my pocket as I reached for my keys. I really needed a nice snack that day, too.

January 4 - The view from here

4. I had never had a view of so many suits as in this store where the boo was picking up and getting fitted for a new suit.  I didn't even know that there were different ways you could have the pant leg sit on your shoes.

January 5 - Movement

5. Since winter break, I have gotten back into my exploration of NYC.  I went to Zuccotti Park - home of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.  It was empty, with a few people on the far side doing something, but it was still pretty amazing to picture all of the people who camped out their for days and days and weeks trying to get their message heard.

January 6 - Mine

6. On the last day before winter break, I was in the teachers' lounge area getting the breakfast the staff had provided for us.  On one of the tables as I helped set up some gift cards they gave us, was this container.  I have wanted something to lick envelopes for me for years - I even said so out loud   (Not that I mail that many things, but, here, I have the rent payment to mail each month - never done that before, usually a drop off location - plus a few other bills and bank things.) When I was leaving school for the break, I stopped in the mail box room and saw this sitting in my mailbox.  Now, it is mine.  Not sure who put it there, but it is amazing.  I used it on Sunday to close some envelopes and my tongue was so happy to not have to taste the nasty adhesive.  I'm pretty sure I remember a time in my childhood when the sticky stuff tasted like candy and not the underside of a city-walker's shoe... or maybe I'm imagining that.

Saturday Quote: Breathe

Keeping it simple for the first Saturday of the year.

New Year Quote: Stop waiting and wasting

Happy New Year!

"Life isn't about waiting until things are perfect to take a chance; life is about taking chances when things aren't perfect to be able to pursue a better tomorrow.  We can't sit and wait for perfect moments; we have to seize every moment possible to get closer to becoming the person we aspire to become.

Don't waste the precious time God has given you in each day.  Instead take time to live your life to the best of your ability.  Life your life to the fullest each day.  You should never feel like you're missing out on life, or as if life is passing you by!  Seize the opportunities in front of you!  Don't spend your time in bed all day hoping that things soon will become perfect.  If you are going to get past where you are, noting that life gives to you without any work will be good enough to do so.  Life is much too short to just hope, we have to be willing to step out, and make things happen as well!

~ J. Johnson