Things I Am Currently Sick Of

This prompt comes from Mama Kat's writing prompts. For some reason I can't get the button to work, but you can check out her blog here.

Prompt: List ten things you are currently sick of.

Oh, no problem! I may get hell for some of this, but, oh well!

In no particular order:

1) JERSEY *&%#! SHORE!

2) Smokers complaining about price of cigarettes, having to smoke outside in the cold/rain/snow/heat, not being able to breathe, coughing all the time, smelling like smoke, fingernails/hair/teeth turning yellow and/or brittle, skin turning leathery, and whatever else they complain about DUE TO smoking. Easy solution, people. STOP SMOKING!

3) People thinking they are funny when making Deaf jokes or jokes about ASL. Especially: "Oh, you know sign language? Yeah, I do, too," and promptly give me the finger. Oh, my goodness, you are so hilarious, I've never heard that before in my life... Guess what? You're not cute. You're not funny. You're not original.

4) Inconsiderate, lazy, rude, messy, dirty, disgusting shoppers. Even before I worked in retail, I was NEVER one of these people. I always put things back where I found them, and if I can't remember where it was, I give it to a salesperson rather than leave it in some random place. If I drop something, I pick it up. I hold my trash until I find a garbage can rather than leaving it under a rack of clothes, on top of a rack of clothes, on the floor of the fitting room, on a stool outside the fitting room, in the fitting room rack outside the doors, under a pile of clothes, between stacks of folded shirts, in a pocket of jeans, or inside boxes of merchandise. And yes, that has ALL happened to me while working. Why are people so damn rude and lazy? How freaking difficult is it to just take your merchandise out of the fitting room (YES, BACK ON HANGERS, AND NOT INSIDE-OUT) when you're done trying it on? What makes people think that the fitting rooms are an effing BATHROOM? Do you see a toilet? A sink? No? Then don't leave your bodily fluids and baby's dirty diapers wherever you damn well please. Why do people walk up to a poor retail slave and demand service like the self-entitled prissy princesses they act to be? Chances are if you are rude to an employee for no good reason, he or she will either a) be rude to you right back; b) ignore you and continue working; or c) simply not give you what you want due to your condescending attitude. Just because a person works in a retail store, that does not make you any better than he or she is. He or she is probably working for a damn good reason, such as to make an income while going to school to do something better with their lives, or feed their family, or help their family because someone else lost their job, became injured or disabled, etc. etc. etc. Get over yourself.

5) Anything done by, worn by, said by, or remotely related to the following people and/or things: Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Selena Gomez, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, vampire movies/TV shows, Will Ferrell, Rebecca Black, Charlie Sheen, Ke$ha, Lindsay Lohan, Royal Wedding BS, any reality show except Hell's Kitchen, Megan Fox, Nicolas Cage, Michael Vick...

6) People doing stupid, reckless things to get attention, and bragging about it. Things such as: Getting into a fight with someone, sleeping with a million people, smoking (anything), drinking themselves into oblivion, doing any illegal drug, getting into trouble with law enforcement, driving recklessly, etc. I'm not impressed. You sound like a moron. You're not cool. Let's see how cool you think you are when driving recklessly at 732894mph causes you to crash into a tree, hit and kill someone, or kill an entire family in one car all because you thought you were a hotshot. Let's see how cool you think you are when sleeping with every person you possibly can gets you one or more incurable STDs or an unwanted pregnancy. Let's see how cool you think you are when run-ins with the police land you in prison because you wanted to boast about your "world against authority" attitude. Let's see how cool you think you are when you are fighting for your life in the hospital due to severe alcohol poisoning simply because you had to prove to everyone at the party how cool and edgy you were for drinking 47 shots of tequila in a row. Yeah, real awesome of you.

7) PLANKING. And whatever other stupid words are now associated with this moronic act.

8) Ridiculous spelling and grammar mistakes. Your = possessive. You're = You are. It's not that difficult.

9) Ridiculous and absurd baby names. Kal-El, Pilot Inspektor, Apple, Blanket, Coco, Kyd, Suri, Sage Moonblood, Maddox, Memphis Eve, Ocean, Rocket Valentino, Racer Maximilliano, Rebel Antonio, Rogue Jaoquin, Rhiannan Elizabeth, Blue Angel, Audio Science, Moon Unit, Diva Thin Muffin, Moxie Crimefighter, Tu Morrow, Jermajesty, Bronx Mowgli (yes, from the damn Jungle Book), Reignbeau, Freedom, Zuma Nesta Rock, Romeo, Brooklyn, Cruz, Seven Sirius, Puma Rose Sabti, Mars Merkaba, Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Atlas, Bandit Lee, Denim Cole, Diezel Ky, Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa (no, I didn't make that up. How could I?!), Bluebell Madonna, Calico, Dashiell, Sonora Rose, Magnus, Mattias, Banjo, Speck Wildhorse, Bamboo, Indio Falconer, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q, and dear GOD the list goes on forever! WTF were they thinking?! I can't decide which one is the most idiotic.

10) Pe0plE Wh0 WriTe L1k3 Th1s. And "Dis." And who use no punctuation whatsoever so their paragraph is one gigantic long sentence and keeps running on and on forever and you can't tell where one thought ends and one begins because it's all jumbledtogetherinonebiggiantmessofwords.

Sadly, I could only limit this to ten. What about you? What are some things that you are sick of?

Keep On Keepin' On

After struggling for a long time on a topic for a new post, I decided to continue with the positivity atmosphere and re-share a story I wrote for an online blog (run by my friend Freeman Hall, who wrote Retail Hell: Confessions of a Tortured Sales Associate, which everyone needs to read!).  This post was written on Friday, May 6, after my first day starting a leave replacement job as an ASL Teacher at the high school where I graduated AND completed my first semester of student teaching (it was actually at the other high school in the same district). Because it was written over two months ago, I've tweaked it a bit to make it more relevant and understandable. If you'd like, you can see the full, unedited version at the link provided above.  After this post, I will add a second one I wrote when the job was finished -- complete with notes from my students, which is also at the same link.

Firstly I must apologize for the extremely lengthy post... but it's worth it, I promise!

First, on Friday, May 6, I started my brand new, wonderful teaching job. YES, that's right, I got a REAL job in the REAL world! With REAL PAY! And while at that point I was done with my classes, I hadn't even officially graduated, nor was I certified yet (I'm still not -- so close!) But, YAY! The reason I started so late into the school year is because the other teacher, who I replaced, well, let's be blunt, was fired. I can't disclose any details, but it was for a few different reasons. I walked in that day as the new teacher, and the students literally cheered for joy. That's not good – well, for her anyway... it was great for me!

Here's how it happened on my end...

Tuesday, May 3 (the day after my birthday, yay!), I received a call from the foreign language department chairperson at the school where I did my first semester of student teaching. She informed me that they needed a new teacher to replace the second ASL teacher, immediately. Long story short... I sent her my resume, she forwarded it to the principals of the two high schools and the district office, and about an hour later I had an interview for the next morning (Wednesday) at the district office with the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and the principal of the high school at which I would be teaching. The interview went well, I was hired immediately, I filled out a ton of paperwork, got fingerprinted, ran around collecting the last documents I needed, and was told since I'm not certified (yet!), the Board of Education needed to give the final approval that night at the Board meeting, and I would be given a call the next morning to confirm. The next morning (Thursday) came, the principal called me, and told me I started the next morning (Friday), and BOOM, I was in! Happy Birthday to me!

Now, in this district, there are two high schools. Teachers of the same subject therefore try to generally be on the same page and pace when it comes to the curriculum, even when at different schools, as the students of the same levels have to take the same final exam (and/or the same Regents). This “teacher” had not kept up with the curriculum and the other ASL teacher at the other school necessary for students to take the final at the end of the year. The students were now entire units behind where they should have been. Additionally, they seemed to know bits and pieces of each unit, rather than everything they should have actually known by that point in the year. And the signs that they did know, half of them were wrong (and not because of region or dialect). So really, I had to play catch-up, review everything, AND teach them the rest of the curriculum for the end of the year final, or the final would have to be changed for these classes.

Don't get me wrong, now, I'm completely grateful for this opportunity to have had my own classroom and classes, and I was very excited to work with these kids. I just knew it would be challenging due to the unique situation we were in.

This post could go on forever about the former teacher, her teaching methods, and her “unorthodox” (and that's putting it nicely) behaviors. However, this story is not about her. It's about me, and all of you. Stay with me...

Secondly, the next reason why that day (Friday May 6) was as wonderful as it was... starting that teaching job means I finally had the ability to get the HELL out of retail. That's right, you read that correctly. I put in my two weeks notice THAT DAY. And damn, it was a GREAT feeling. This did mean, however, that as of then I had NO income over the summer, but at that moment in time I really did NOT care even one tiny ounce. Because after six long, exhausting, infuriatingly painful years in retail HELL, this slave is finally free. Although I still had two weeks left to finish, it no longer mattered, because I knew there was finally an end to this misery. And if you knew me at all, you knew I was the most miserable person on the planet every second I spent in that section of Hell on Earth. There IS a very bright light at the end of the dark and gloomy tunnel, and it was finally so close it made all my Spidey senses tingle.

Now, how is this about the rest of you? Well, my dears, because this story relates to you all who are working endlessly and diligently to finish school and get out in the real world where you are so destined, motivated, and determined to be. I worked my ass off, especially these past two years in graduate school, wrote countless papers, researched tons of articles, conducted my own study while student teaching, and wrote a seemingly endless Master's Thesis, all in the name of graduation and certification as a teacher, while continuing to work in the hell that is retail, and keeping my romantic and familial relationships in tact. I sacrificed countless nights of socializing, drinking, movies, parties, Deaf events, cousins' communions and school concerts, family birthday parties, sporting events (pick a sport – I missed them all), concerts, reading (I'm one of the few who enjoy it), summers (I took summer classes in BOTH sessions), date nights with my wonderful, amazingly supportive and loving boyfriend, and simply taking a day or night to myself to just relax. You name it, I sacrificed and missed it, due to either work, homework, papers, student teaching, lesson planning, or my thesis. And now, finally, after six incessant years, the end has come. I persevered, and I made it through, and you can too.

I've felt the stress, I've felt the anger, the anxiety, sadness, nervousness, and pain. I've felt the urge to procrastinate, to deal with things later, the stress of time management, money management, the apathy, the hunger, the fear, and the absolute exhaustion. I've felt it all. And I made it through.

Don't feel discouraged. Don't feel hopeless. The end of the stress is near. I know it's hard, believe me, I know how difficult it really is, but it's there, and it's worth it. I also had an interview the week after I started the leave replacement for a teaching position in the fall at another high school. I never got a call back, but, oh well, the opportunity was there. If I can make it through, and find jobs, especially in this economy where teachers are being cut left and right, you can too.

Hang in there, and keep your head up.

Best of luck to you all. You got this!