It’s the first week of school - and things have been crazy. There was my five-day war with Office Depot to track down the students’ school supplies. This ended in a victory for me (and a gold star!) when I managed to get the whole order for free. That’s over $1,000 people.
Four hours into Monday, we had our first “puker.” A 5th grader who had the flu totally blew chunks after lunch (sorry for the visual) - we’re talking projectile vomit EVERYWHERE. She was outside our main office, in the middle of asking for a trash can, when it happened. And it was really strange, we were about to give her the can, when we saw her start to throw up, and immediately me and my co-workers turned our heads away as fast as possible. It’s as though if we didn’t see it, it didn’t really happen. Of course, we peek out of the corner of our eyes, and it’s definitely there.
We have our own mailbox in the building and I slipped in some mail without putting postage on it. This is annoying. Obviously, I can’t retrieve them from the box (I’ve seen that Seinfeld episode too many times). Technically, they are supposed to return them to the sender - but I did the same thing around Mother’s Day and that bitch has yet to show up at my door. They were both personal cards, thank-you’s, so I couldn’t take the chance of losing them. I took the stamps (with the plastic backings on them), taped them to note saying I forgot to put them on my cards, and hung it to the front of the mailbox. And now I am just praying that the mailman does me this favor and puts them on for me.

On Monday the staff went to northern Virginia for an overnight retreat. I haven’t had a chance to go to the moutains here yet and it was gorgeous:

 

 

I created a Flickr page for all the KIPP DC pictures.

Man, it is no fun coming back to work after being on vacation for a week. I spent ALL DAY processing bills, I didn’t even get up from my desk for 9 hours; not to eat, use the bathroom, nothing. Normally, being busy isn’t a problem for me, but today it was almost unbareable. The reason being that I am dealing with withdrawal symptoms from stopping my anxiety medication.
I know, I know, why the hell did I stop taking it? I just wanted to try being drug-free, haha, and not dependent on anything. No, it’s not a Tom Cruise/Scientology thing, it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for awhile. However, I’m learning that it takes a LONG TIME to get it out of your system. As in, 8 weeks or more. So I needed to wean myself off of it much slower than I did. For the past week I’ve been dealing with the symptoms - dizziness, nausea, insomnia, general foggy headedness - and it is no fun. So while I try to figure out how to get more drugs, here’s a fun history of anxiety:

I’ve had a problem with anxiety for most of my life.

It would come and go, varying in severity. For most of my childhood, I couldn’t participate in sleepovers, summer camps, any kind of overnight trip. I would try, though, and usually ended up calling my parents in the midde of the night to pick me up because I was “homesick.” Which is basically just another word for anxious. It was the strangest feeling, to become nervous because I was in a location outside of my safety zone (my parents, my house). As soon as I knew they were coming to get me, I would start to feel better immediately. It was frustrating, embarrasing, and none of my friends really understood it. Jesus, I barely did. All I knew was that at the stroke of midnight, I had better be home or I was was in for one hell of a night. The type of anxiety I felt was pretty common - naseau, shortness of breath, feeling dizzy and sweating, unable to sleep/eat. Pretty miserable stuff. I remember wishing so badly that I could get past it, but I didn’t know how. Thinking back, I wonder why my parents never took me to anyone. I guess they never knew how bad it got.

When I was deciding on a college, I initially was interested in Wake Forest and Emory. I remember telling my dad that I couldn’t go away to college, because I didn’t think I could live away from home. When he asked what I meant, I explained the whole anxiety problem. He brushed that off, saying that I would be fine. That by the time I was ready for college (a couple of years off), I would have no problem moving away. I guess he thought that I would miraculously get over it?

Perhaps he thought I could deal with it the same way he did; by just living with it and feeling incredibly shitty most of the time. He has always suffered from anxiety, in a different form from me, and has NEVER seeked help for the problem. He doesn’t believe in taking medicine for something that is “in your head.” To him, it’s mind over matter and he was just going to conquer it. FYI - he’s 58 and still wakes up sick each morning.

So….I gave up my North Carolina college dream and applied to Stetson (right in my hometown) and decided to live at home. At this point, I couldn’t even travel to Orlando or go to the movies without having a panic attack. It was horrible. I hated life…..

FAST FORWARD a few years. I was never diagnosed (i.e. realized that it wasn’t normal to feel sick to my stomach all the time) until I moved to Boston. It was then that the anxiety started to affect my everyday living, to the point where I couldn’t really function. I was given Celexa and my life hasn’t been the same since. Seriously, unless you’ve been through it, being able to walk around anxiety-free is amazing. I literally couldn’t believe I had gone that long without help.

Hmm, so why am I stopping the drugs again? I need to think this one over. Too bad I have no ability to focus. Dammit.

I’m dogsitting for my boss this week. She has a beautiful mut named Wusha - who looks like a mix between a Corgi and a Sheltie. She’s as sweet as can be, but just a little too laid back for Toby. He’s what you might call a maniac, crazy all the time and wants to play with you non-stop.

My landlord, Karin, rescues all kinds of animals. She herself has four dogs, which she brings over to play with Toby. Here is their last Puppy Party:

 

 

 

On the final night of Summit, there was an Awards Dinner and Presentation. The KIPP New York Orchestra, comprised of Middle Schoolers, performed for us. They were awesome; seriously, the best concert I have ever seen. They played a wide range of modern songs for us - including “Ordinary People” by John Legend, “Be Without You” by Mary J. Blidge, and “Billy Jean” by Michael Jackson. It was the best!

While in New Orleans for the KIPP Summit, I was able to escape and take some pics:

This is the story of a very special puppy named Bourbon.

While were in New Orleans for the KIPP Summit, we spent a lot of time hanging out on Bourbon Street. One night, we were at a dance club which was located across the street from some strip joint (which could refer to a dozen places, if you’ve been here). Out front of the strip place, was a girl with a puppy - I assumed that she was working there. The puppy was freaking adorable; it looked like a lab puppy, but smaller. It wasn’t attached by a leash, it wasn’t even wearing a collar. It was just laying at her feet. Me and my principal went over to pet the puppy, the girl not paying much attention. I ended up going back to the hotel a little after that.

The next day our principal comes up to me, and tells me what happened after I left. Apparently, the crack whore was trying to sell the puppy to another crack whore for $40. One of the teachers at the conference heard this and approached the girl.

“Are you selling your puppy??”

“Uh, yeah.”

“How much?”

“40 bucks.”

“Here’s 50, now give me the dog.”

The teacher then takes the crack whore’s dog back to the Marriott (snuck it in), took it to the vet the next day, and got the proper papers to fly him home. If it had been a girl she was going to name it Nola, but since it’s a boy she settled on Bourbon.

And don’t think for one minute that I didn’t go back the next night looking for another crack whore puppy. Cause I did.

Ok, not THE Bourbon, but close enough. How could you think of selling this puppy!?