Settling In...

Life in L.A. is going well. Last weekend I finally moved into my new apartment. I really love the space (though there are a few things the landlord still needs to take care of). I look around at this (in my opinion) large one bedroom and am reminded that I am single and in LA; if that's not scary, I don't know what is. :) The apartment is very spacious for me, especially since I'm coming from a studio which was a hole in the wall. I don't know how I managed in that tiny place for 8 years. Oh wait, yes I can, it was the absurdly cheap rent. Rent here is under 1000 which is great for L.A. and in my location. It's still more than I ever paid and will be interesting to see how the bills are managed after I get my first full check.

The unpacking is coming along. I presume I'll finish everything thoroughly over the weekend. I have a enormous pile of books on my floor because I have two very tall but thin shelves that I was waiting to bolt to the walls before filling with paperbacks. So, today I went to Home Depot to buy my very first drill (I'm so butch, hahaha). I saw one of my first period students at Home Depot. Speaking of which, this is the third time I've bumped into my students outside of school. Needless to say, I live very close to school which in LA is amazing. I couldn't do a long L.A. commute day after day.I'm lucky to be only 1.5 miles away. So, I charged the new drill and went to work on the bookshelves and my spice rack. YAY! Drills rock.

I'm looking forward to the day I finish organizing and cleaning in here so that I can come home and just plop on the couch. Sigh...that would be divine; especially since my teaching work is never complete. Since I mentioned it, teaching is going (not good not bad, just going). I got off to a hectic start since I was still living down in SD and then crashing on a friend's couch. My mind is starting to calm and I could tell just by the lessons today that my teaching is better already. Go figure since in 22 teaching days I will be on a 2 month break.

I was going to teach "To Kill a Mockingbird" to my tenth graders but nixed that idea today because we just don't have the time before the break. Instead we are going to read a few short stories and focus on persuasive writing since they have a district exam based on that coming up. My 11th grade classes will be reading "The Crucible" as of today. I think I got them off to a good start and will have good results.
OH!! I almost forgot, one of the V.P.s dropped by for a suprise observation today. It's a damn good thing it's the ONLY day so far that my plan was solid and decent, even if most of it was discussion to give background on the Puritans. This is one of the VPs that interviewed me and the same one I saw at the deli two weeks back. LA is so small like that!

Well, that's my update...off to go plan something for tomorrow.