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I’m staying in a one bedroom sublet for the next two months. It’s a cute place, next to Fenway. The girl who lives here is studying in Australia this summer; she’s getting her PhD in something fancy. She left me some instructions about the place, where the laundry is, how to get the mail. She also asked if I could “water her plants.” Sounds easy enough. Then I looked at the next page of notes - it was entirely about how to take care of the plants. I looked around the room, scanning them. There were a lot of plants, I thought. I counted. Twenty six. Yes, you read that right - TWENTY SIX PLANTS.
There were ferns, orchids, plants in stones, plants in bark fertilizer, a virtual garden in the damn apartment. And I guess this girl thought I could handle it. Little does she know I have a black thumb. I kill everything I touch - well, everything plantlike. My mother has a bright green thumb; she can take the leaf off a branch and two weeks later have a small tree growing out of a bucket. Unbelievable. I’m hoping to have 12, maybe 15 plants left when she returns.
Speaking of plants, there’s a community garden across the street from my place. Beautiful plots, rented out by people in the city, where they create a Secret Garden of sorts in the middle of Boston. There are trellises of roses, goldfish ponds, stone walkways. It’s really a treat to have here. Toby loves walking through them.
However, what he REALLY likes, is the “dirty water” next to the gardens. The river winds through the city and the banks fo the river are overgrown with bamboo and reeds. The first few days, I let him wander through the paths next to the river….but then I started to notice strange things. Condom wrappers mostly, packets of Joe Lube, empty beer bottles. I thought it was the local youth having some fun. But then I started seeeing all the men. Various ages and types, hanging around the back of the gardens by the reeds. They were there ALL THE TIME. Morning, afternoon, evening, you name it; shady men just standing around, waiting for something. So I asked a neighbor what that something might be. Gay sex ring. Yes, you heard it, gay sex ring in my backyard. Hmm, front yard? Turns out that this area is infamous for it’s sexcapades. It’s gotten pretty bad in the last couple of years, many people don’t want to use the garden anymore because of it. The police just ignore the problem because, well, the want no part in it.
Hey, I’m all about free love, but I do have a problem with trash. Pick up after yourselves boys! Also, zip up BEFORE you come out of the reeds (saw that one the other day). It’s sad that they have to use this area for that - are there no whorehouses?

One of the benefits of having Trustees at the school is that they give out “goodies” from time to time.  Literally like the rich giving to the poor.  I benefited from this hand-out on Monday night, when I went with two coworkers to see the Sox play.  In the Pavilion section box seats.  It’s basically where the fancy-fancy people sit….and me, when given a ticket.  You can enjoy the air conditioning in the restaurant/bar area, which still has a beautiful shot of the field, plus a million flat screens to give you detail.  When you’re ready to sit down, you go out onto the box seats which place you just high enough above the game that you feel like you are controlling them with your fingers, like puppets :)  Yes, I felt like royalty.  The only downside is that you can’t bring mixed drinks out there.  Apparently hard alcohol and sports fans aren’t always the best combination.  So of course that just meant that I snuck mine out.  Hey, I’m gonna have my rum and cokes and ain’t nobody stopping me. 

I stopped by the Post Office this morning to pick-up a package from Gummy; my long-awaited Finger Rolls have arrived!  Up in Hudson Falls, there is a place that has amazing rolls.  And by amazing I mean buttery and fatty and delicious.  Gummy sent me some for my birthday last year (score!) and because of my move, waited until I got to Boston to send me my batch for this year.  There are about 15 of them and I’m guessing they will last no longer than three hours.  Kidding.  At least six.

I started my new job, in my new city, so I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had time to post until now. It was really hard to say goodbye to DC and all the friends I’ve made there. I know that I will definitely be back to visit soon (I promise!), but until then, I’ll just keep the memory of The Blue Castle in my mind.

My last day at work happened to coincide with our last day at the building. We moved into our new building this week, but before we did, I had everyone take one last shot outside.

On Saturday I packed up the U-Haul (and by I, I mean the two high schoolers I hired - and by U-Haul I mean Budget…it just sounds better for the story) and said my goodbyes to Tiff and Sheila. Even though I’ve know her for less than a year, Tiffy Taffy has become one of my favorite people and I’m seriously going to miss her.

Next, I headed up to Jersey to see my cousin and her family. She had a little girl, named Malina, last year and I had yet to meet her. Malina was completely infatuated with Toby…who, in turn, was not amused that a one year old was chasing him. I think he’s used to begging for attention and this kid threw him for a loop with all her lovin’.

I was surprised with a little blue box on my birthday; my good friend, Leif, sent me a beautiful bracelet. It’s funny because I have the same one already, just the fake. Now I’m authentic and shit

Pretty!

To continue the weekend fun, we had a Luau on Saturday night to celebrate my Birthday and Going Away. We decorated in 100 degree heat - Toby finally used his baby pool - and cooked bucket loads of food. Good times.

The Roomies

Beth and I

Sheila’s dog, Jackson, getting tanked

Friday night was the End of the Year party for KIPP. It was held at Station 9 on U Street - a lot of fun. Besides the usual suspects (ie coworkers) my brother, Bonnie, and Rachael also traveled on over to celebrate. And celebrate we did. Despite the hot weather (it was SO HUMID at even midnight!), we all had a great time.

Tiffany and I

The girls of KEY

SHayes and I

I hadn’t planned on writing tonight, but I’m sitting here in bed, exhausted from the long day, watching CNN. First, I listened to Hillary give her non-consession speech. Now, I listen to Obama speak of his clinching of the nomination.

There is only word I can think of to summarize his presence on stage tonight - humbled. You can tell how filled with emotion he is, especially when he dedicated this evening to his Grandmother. I just feel so proud. Proud to be part of this nation at this time in our history, when we are making history. It’s a great feeling and I can’t wait until November.

Yes We Can.

Bonnie was over Friday night for dinner and we were watching the Sox on TV. Turns out they were in Baltimore for the weekend, so we decided last minute to try and get tickets. What a great idea it turned out to be - we were there to witness Manny hit his 500th homerun! There were SO MANY Red Sox fans there, we did Boston proud. So while I’m sure you’ve seen the official footage of his hit, you haven’t seem my amateur video. Let me set the scene. Bonnie brought her digital…but forgot to charge the battery. I didn’t have mine…cuz I though she was bringing hers. All we had were our cell phones (shit-tay picture taking ability) and a disposable. Yes, with real 35mm film. I decided to *try* and tape his at bat with my new cell phone. I apologize in advance for causing everyone motion sickness

BTW, check out ALL the people in the stands taking pics. It’s a virtual sea of flashes!

I went recruiting for new 5th graders a few weeks ago and sometime during the day lost my work cell phone.  I didn’t notice it was gone until that night and a part of me thought that it was somewhere in the house or in my car. 

I called my voicemail every few days to get my messages and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.  Until friday.  I called my voicemail and the little operator voice said, “you have 20 new messages.”  Hmm.  I’ve never had 20 messages on that phone, ever.  So I start to listen.  The first is from a co-worker, asking me to order something.  The second, well, the second is from a very angry woman.  I’m trying to turn the message into a wave file so I can post it here, but here’s a little bit of what you’ll hear:

Why the HELL aren’t you answering your phone?!  You know I ain’t got no f**king minutes on my cell!!!  I had to go down to the m***erf**king pay phone to call you and then go around to my friend’s houses and use their phones!!!!  You f**king a**hole!  Don’t you dare think of coming in to work tomorrow!!!

And that is being mild.  The actual message itself was 10x worse.  I am obviously taken aback by this and then I hear a few more angry messages.  Like five or six of them.  From TWO different women.  Apparently playa’ boy is canoodling with a couple of girls.  One of the messages was an actual phonecall; somehow the guy had picked up but it started recording anyhow.  His name - Jermaine. 

My boss decided to call one of the woman back; we were able to get the number she called from off the voicemail.  We left a message for Shelley and then I decided to call my phone again to have some coworkers listen to the messages (hey, they were funny).  Jermaine picks up. 

Jermaine?

Hey, who is this?

Is this Jermaine?

Hello? 

CLICK.

What a dumbass, answering a call from a stolen cell phone.  I tried calling back, but he didn’t answer.  So I texted him something to the effect of “Jermaine, we know you have the phone and it is property of the school system.  Return it or we will press charges.”

Meanwhile, I decide to have a different coworker call my phone and speak to Jermaine.  She uses a different phone to trip him up - he answers.  She starts talking to him, saying that Shelley told her to call. 

Who?

Shelley, you don’t know Shelley?!

Shirley?

Yeah, Shirley.

Oh yeah, Shirley is my mother.

Yeah, she told me to call.  When can I stop by and see you?

Are you my CO?

Yeah, yeah I am.  When can I stop by and visit?

I thought I was supposed to meet you on Tuesday?

Umm, yeah, you are….but I wanted to stop by and see you today.

Ok.

So Jermaine, in all of his infinite wisdom gives her his address and let’s her know when he’ll be home.  At this point, everyone in the main office is laughing hysterically.  We cannot believe how stupid this boy is.  No wonder all these woman are pissed at him.

We started discussing who should go to his house to get the phone - I mean, someone who needs a Corrections Officer shouldn’t be messed with.  Although, we reasoned, he’s not the smartest tool in the shed.  Just as we are about to pick straws, we get a call on the main office phone.  It’s Jermaine.  He wants to speak to his CO.  My boss gets on the phone and explains to him that the jig is up.  We know he has the phone and unless he turns it over, we’re pressing charges.

I wouldn’t want to have to contact your CO about all of this.

Jermaine confesses to having the phone and says he’ll give it back.  Turns out he lives about two blocks from my boss (they’re neighbors!) and she made plans to get the phone back.

And she did.

Just another day at the Academy.

I came home this evening to find:

1) NOT my UPS package I signed for yesterday for them to leave on my porch today. I left the little note saying to just leave it on the porch and now the notice is gone but there’s no freaking package. Does this mean my neighbors stole all my packing boxes from Budget?? That sucks.

2) An orange card from the Post Office letting me know that a certified letter from the Maryland District Court is waiting for me tomorrow morning for pick-up. Hmm, could this be official notice that I’m being charged with a crime by Gertrude and Rhonda?? That sucks.

Bitches.