Boston Revisited

So. No one reads this blog . . . ever . . . so I'll just hit the highlights, I suppose. When last we left off, everyone and their sister was coming out to see me in rapid succession. It was good. I'm sure I was getting on people's nerves by the end, but in my defense I really needed a break from doing stuff. It was still nice to see everyone, though.

I realized after my mom left that it has probably been over six years, maybe more, since I've spent 18+ hours in a row with her. That was strange. Not the time together but that it's been so long. I didn't miss it necessarily, but just thinking that over the last six years every single day of my life, even when I was living in her house, I was working most of the day and then hung out with friends, or whatever. I think I did a good job dealing with extended mom time the first day, the second was a little quieter but we were at Walden Pond for about 7 hours, so we were just relaxing.

What else. I miss the Kell-ster. She's a sweetheart. It was great having her here even if I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to see her and that was enough for me. Still, we had a lot of laughs and did a bunch of stuff. Likewise, my sisters came out and the last night they were here, hours before they were leaving, we got in a heated argument. It was a successful one, though. Lots of crying (not by me, though. I didn't feel the conversation warranted any crying but others felt different, I suppose). In the end we're probably closer now. Everyone came away from that feeling good. Hopefully Kelly did too because she was sitting right there the whole hour or so the argument was going on. I'm proud of her for making it through that. I know what that's like. I remember numerous times going over to Dave's house and his parents would be yelling at each other or Dave or whatever and I'd just have to pretend I wasn't embarrassed for a while. I mean, no one wants others to see them argue; people aren't exactly at their best in those situations.

I'm hoping to find out when I have classes and stuff soon because I want to plan when I can go back to Madison. I'm getting frustrated before school even begins with the vagueness of the program. Is it so difficult to just send a clarifying email to everyone? They keep saying, "Well, we gave you a calendar the first day of the program and even told you that you'd ask us stuff and we'd tell you to look on the calendar. Then you'll say you lost it and we'll have to give you another one." Hmmm. Shouldn't this be some sort of indicator that it's a bad idea to give out a calendar at the beginning of the program and not keep everyone updated since most people have no idea what's going on? I think these teachers are setting very poor examples of being teachers. I'm sure teaching teachers how to teach is difficult, very meta-, but the lack of organization is killing me. I've been here two and a half months and I feel like I've ALWAYS been finding out what I'm supposed to be doing the day before doing it. I mean, sometimes they try to give us a little list of important dates, but they always seem incomplete or extremely vague. Even minor things that people agree on get obscured. For instance, me and Dave both understood that for the first half of the year we go to our assigned schools twice a week. Dave was under the impression that we only had to be there two hours a day, and I thought we had to be there the whole day. There is no way we can find this information out that I know of, because if we ask someone else, they will agree with one of us but not have any way to prove it. We'll just have to find out that day like usual. Oh well.

I got a job working at American Repertory Theatre (ART) which is right across the street from the Graduate School of Education. It seems like it'll be a good job. The people there laid back theatre people, and I get tickets to all the shows. I don't have a job description exactly, I just do whatever they need of me that day, whether it be research, filing, or a donor project. I can't really think of anything else to write about that, we'll see how it goes. Should be alright.

What else is there? Dave's dad is out here right now. It's pretty good. I was hoping not to have to "entertain" again, but he really wants to not do city stuff and just hang out. We went to a bar last night, the Sunset Cantina. They have a beer selection that's five pages long. There were some good beers there. We also went to Walden Pond and tossed the football around and talked about real estate while we stood in the lake. Kind of weird and surreal but informative nonetheless. I guess it's just strange when you realized your all grown up. Not that I feel like I have to act a certain way, because I'm still quite immature and I'm fine with that. It's just you realize that you're responsible for so much stuff and you have to learn to play certain roles automatically. Like when I step in front of my classroom soon, I will be a teacher in that room. There's no being in between the role of teacher and the role of student because there's no way to maintain authority. I will be the teacher. Children will come to me for answers. This is the same guy gets smashed and desires to slide down a coal pile on the weekend; who laughs at politically incorrect South Park jokes; who does everything in his power to make someone laugh regardless of the situation and, possibly, appropriateness. Then, talking about how I have to buy a house as soon as I can because when you rent a place, you're virtually just giving your money to someone else. It's all strange, and the fact that I'll be moving cross-country most likely when I'm done out here and beginning my career and starting a life is new. It's difficult to explain without writing one of the millions of 'coming of age' novels or stories that we've all read. If you want to know what it's like, read a book (here's the English teacher coming out).

Last night I called Kelly and she and the crew were out at a bar. I was very glad she was out having a good time. I ended up talking to a Ms. Anna Kacyn who, and this might sound bad, but I don't mean it this way, I completely forgot about. She had been abroad in Chile (I think) for a whole year and away this summer as well and so much has happened to me since then that it feels like even longer. She was a good actress and a fun girl. It'll be nice to catch up when I visit. As far as Kelly-girl is concerned, I'm very happy she's got a good group of friends she can have fun with. If you guys are reading this, I miss youze guys. I think that's the biggest jump into the adult world that I'm experiencing out here. I mean, I have fun with Dave all the time, and occasionally with other TEP people, but I no longer have a running crew like I used to. I enjoy hanging out with Chris, John, and Patrick (Steve O'Connell's friends from college) but most of them have jobs and sometimes I feel like the new guy, although they don't treat me that way at all. I hold my own, but they are in a different part of their lives than I am. I suppose that's a good thing because they're like my buddies who have already made the transition and they're doing okay.

So, strange blog for today. To sum up: I miss Kelly, it's weird being an adult, and I'm hungry.