Hey, Why Don't I Post Already?

For the last week or so, my life has been so chock full of academic goodness that I have barely had time to sleep. I think there was only one night this week when I got more than five hours of sleep. That's quite an inadequate amount of sleep for me.

I returned home from my action-packed weekend of watching my grandma turn 90 in Fresno late last Sunday evening, and was roused from my slumber early the next morning with a phone call from my professor informing me that they finally had managed to find a student teaching assignment for me. Sadly, the assignment was not in South Pasadena, as I had hoped. Instead, I've been assigned to John F. Kennedy High School in the Valley. It's your typical urban campus, I think. By urban, I don't mean inner city. The school is safe...or at least as safe as any school in LAUSD can be. I kind of like it there...my master teacher is quite good, and I've learned quite a bit this week.

I'm not actually teaching yet...just doing observations. I am only required to be there one period a day, but I usually stay about three in order to make the drive out there worth my while. The good thing is that it is fairly close to CSUN, so on days when I have class, I don't have to drive really far in opposite directions, like I would have had to do if I'd been placed at Arcadia.

Overcrowding is definitely a problem on the campus. The class to which I am assigned is a senior Government class with about 41 students enrolled. When I was in high school, I can't remember ever having that many students in my classes. I think my freshman history class had 35, and that was considered overcrowded at the time.

I have just returned home from a small shindig in Pasadena at the home of somebody I've never met before. I got an e-mail from Jenny Smith today, inviting me to come to this little gathering because her friend Kathryn was coming in from Las Vegas. Since I'd never met Kathryn, I went along. Funny thing is, it took Kathryn about three hours to realize that I was me. Hopefully that makes sense.

Well, I've got an incredible amount of work to do this weekend for school. I'm supposed to go to an engagement party later today, but it depends on how much work I can get done. But, I might be able to stop by. I've got several papers to write (three due next week) and a whole mess of reading to do. I kind of fell behind last weekend when I went to Fresno. I took all my books with me, but I was too busy visiting relatives and stuff to even pay that much attention to it.

Sunday, I will most likely be required to go down to Irvine in order to see my parents one last time before they return home to Hawaii on September 24. So, that day is not really available for homework. So, at the very least, I can probably manage only a brief appearance at the engagement party.

I have written this post because both Jenny and Kathryn have threatened me with dire consequences if the frequency of my posting does not increase. In order to avoid economic sanctions and the like, I have decided to comply.