Thanks!

I wanted to thank everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! I mentioned it vaguely in my last blog and wasn't trying to be overt about it.

It was truly a great day! For one, I feel so relaxed! I have felt anxiety over the past couple days, but nothing compared to what I felt for so many months. I am on Xanax and Ativan for the readers who are curious. The anxiety is not completely gone, I'm sure it has a lot to do with me, letting go of events, things like that, but I really do feel so much better, and I know the pills probably are not the solution to everything, but let me tell you, there is a difference!

So I had to work today. My mom was talking to the school secretary this morning and told her that it was my 22nd birthday. The secretary told the principal, he wished me Happy Birthday, and gave me some Hersheys Kisses. Then the secretary wrote it on the board in the teacher's lounge.

My mom's friend Linda asked me to sub for her. Her kids are good overall, so it was fun. One of her students whom I've had trouble with before, not because he is a bad kid, but because he is ADD and distracts everyone was particularly amusing today. He name is Jerry and he is a short 7th grader who is probably 4'11. I try to say hi to him, complement him on his cool clothes, and he likes that. Today before I started class, he deemed me the coolest, most stylish teacher on campus. I wore my navy blue Vans with white shoe laces, blue Levi's 514s, and a green American Eagle buttondown. He came in the room saying "WOW, Mr. Smith, you are the coolest teacher on campus. None of the other teachers wear skinny jeans or shop at American Eagle." I laughed and told him I'm not most teachers. He agreed. Well, the real reason I'm blogging about Jerry is because he was too funny. I sent him out of the room a few weeks back when I subbed for Linda because he was running around the room and yelling when we were supposed to be reading aloud as a class. Well, today they were working in groups reading "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and Jerry didn't have a partner. He decided Casper the Friendly Ghost would be his partner. I laughed because Jerry is one of those cute little kids who can do that in the 7th grade and nobody would make fun of him. Jerry worked, he was off task 4-5 times, which is not unusual. But each time he was off task I'd look over at him, smile, then say "Casper! What are you doing this time? I thought you were supposed to be WORKING with Jerry and he's off task." I'd also say "Casper, is your work done? I think Jerry's is because he is talking to __x___." He'd get right back to work. It was cute.

By 5th period I'm sure 1/4 of the school knew it was my birthday. My mom has most of the same kids Linda does, so she told them to say "Happy Birthday to Mr. Smith." It was funny walking the halls and random kids were saying happy birthday to me. I thanked them and smiled.

For dinner we went to a Spanish restaurant- NOT MEXICAN. I love me my Mexican food, don't get me wrong, but I also love Spanish food. I had meat paella. It was sooooooooooo delicious. I hadn't had it since last year when this happened. The service was even better than last year. The waitress was an older Mexican lady and she did so much as to even put our napkins in our laps, things like that, which was nice. She brought me an Andalucian fudge cake for dessert, which was very chocolatey... too much for my liking. And my dad and sister weren't fans- my sister just nibbled at her food, but the conversation was about me. Me! ME! ME! We talked about my day at work, me getting my teaching credential, my plans in the future. ME!

We went home and my mom gave me 4 scarves and a multi-colored blue and orange striped jacket I wanted. I love the jacket and the scarves should be interesting in helping me accessories/try new styles out.

My mommy made me one of my favorite cakes. My first favorite is carrot cake, but that takes hours. So she made my second favorite, which is a white cake with pineapple filling, and cream cheese icing. YUMMY!!!!

So what else? We had a 5.0 earthquake this evening, which rattled nerves. Mine especially. Anxiety!

And lastly, I came out to Jenn tonight. Jenn is the girl I was so worried of telling because she had a crush on me, is a great friend, lots of common friends, and I was worried she'd tell her mom, then in turn mine........... here's our AIM convo. The convo was in reference to dating...

Jenn:
so we broke up

Mike:
aaaaw... i'm sorry... anytime you want to talk im here

Jenn:
who are you going out with?
what is their name?
awww cute

Mike:
wooooooooooooooooooow. JJ..... i didn't say i was dating anyone.......

Jenn:
are you? what's her name?

Mike:
lol.... well.... actually if i were dating someone it would be a he... lol...... i feeeeeeeel soooooooo weird telling you that...........

Jenn:
lol
you shouldnt have to
ok..... so yeah.................. um..... yeah
lol
im happy for u

Mike:
thanks!

Jenn:
wow mike, u could of told me lol
lol

Mike:
i feel so weird saying anything
and over aim of all places
not like phone
even

Jenn:
hahaha Mike! its ok
im glad u feel comfortable enough telling me

Mike:
thanks!