The Interview that Wasn't

Yesterday I was sick. Sunday night, after that last blog post, I got a fever, and couldn't sleep for being so hot. I left the bed and went downstairs to sleep on the couch so that Hubby could rest. I got up Monday morning, started to head into the shower, and realized I was slightly nauseated. Any plans I had of pushing through the day quickly subsided to the realization that I needed to call in sick, no matter how easy a teaching day it would have been.

The real kicker is that I was scheduled to have a job interview at my giant choir school. The head director is leaving to open a new high school in our district, leaving his job open. Already knowing two thirds of the kids, the school in general, and not wanting to continue my split teaching position, I applied as soon as I learned of the opening. That was months ago. Then it came down to the day of the interview and I was sick.

The principal called me at home about the same time as my interview would have ended, probably after talking it over with the committee, I'm guessing, and asked me if I wanted to reschedule my interview or forgo the opportunity. I agreed to let them go ahead and hire who they wanted to hire without taking the time to interview me. I know it's important to my principal that the new hire get to meet the kids before summer. I also know that my one year of teaching middle school doesn't really stack up well against someone with more than that. She did pay me a wonderful compliment, telling me I'm an excellent teacher and that she thinks I'll be ready for my own program in a few years.

I had mixed emotions about it all yesterday. Sadness that the opportunity was gone. Relief that the huge choir program which has eaten the last 3 weeks of my life won't be resting fully on my shoulders. Anxiety of not knowing who was hired, and how well I'd be able to work with him/her...

Through this whole process, I've not been fully sure that I actually wanted the job. My part-time, split job is difficult, but it's good for me. I have more flexibility than I would teaching full time. While I sometimes complain that I work full time for less than full time pay, there are times that I actually do work a little less than full time. Having the freedom to say every now and then (like I did during TAKS testing week), "Well, since I'm not full time..." and having a little bit of leeway to come in late or leave early does come in handy.

I have had success this year with my giant 6th grade choir and my tiny choir. Next year I plan to have even more. And in a few years, after doing this a little longer, maybe my tiny choir will grow, or I'll go somewhere where I can be all at one school. My time will come, even if my interview yesterday didn't.

Smooth Sailing to Summer!!

I can hardly believe it. The gigantic hurdles that have been staring me down on my calendar are all done, and now we have just 2 weeks before the official end of the 2009-2010 school year and the start to SUMMER VACATION!

If the last 2 weeks didn't kill me, I'm starting to think I can do just about anything. The week of May 3, I had rehearsal every day after school followed by an evening event 4 out of 5 nights that week, followed by a trip to Schlitterbahn on Saturday. Then the week of May 10, there were rehearsals every day after school Monday thru Thursday until 7:00 PM, and then a huge show on Friday AND Saturday nights. We did the show twice because our performance venue isn't very big.

On top of all that, my girls took turns being sick. They both had a mysterious virus causing a fever and not much else. Little Girl had it for 5 days, and Big Girl had it for 4 days. Hubby and I took turns staying home with them. But even when I didn't go in to teach for the day, I still had to pass off the sick kid in the late afternoon and go to school for the rehearsals after school.

And now here it is, Sunday afternoon, after the two busiest weeks ever, and I'm still smiling. Maybe I'm just smiling because it's over. Or maybe I'm smiling because it all ended up being a huge success.

I took both of my choirs to the competition at Schlitterbahn, and my tiny choir won Best in Class for their division. That's just amazing!! My 6th grade choir was beat out by a powerhouse school from San Antonio. Oh well, we can't win them all.

The pop show we just finished last night was HUGE. We had all 200+ kids on stage together singing 3 of the numbers, and then each choir did a song, plus a whole bunch of solos and small group acts. The show was also a success, and there were many tears from the 8th graders who will be moving on next year.

Now there are only 2 weeks left of the school year. All that's left really is getting things wrapped up for this year, and auditioning the kids for next year. That will be low stress for me, although the students will be anxious about it.

I'm looking forward to next year in a big way. I'm looking forward to not being new. I've almost completed the cycle now, and I'm ready to know what I'm doing. It will be nice to have experience to guide my expectations.

I have one of the songs from last night's show in my head, "The Call," by Regina Spektor.

UIL

In the world of choir, band, and orchestra in our state, there's this competition that everybody does. It's not so much a competition between the schools, but with each ensemble's ability to get the best rating possible. There are two parts, the concert component where an ensemble performs prepared pieces on stage, and the sight-reading component, where the ensemble reads a new piece they've never seen before, all in front of a panel of judges. It's like the "super bowl" of choir, band or orchestra.

I have been to UIL before many times. I did band UIL for 6 years in a row, and choir UIL 3 times. But always as a performer.

Until this year.

It was my first time on the other side of the podium. Let me just say that it's a completely different ball game. It's not that my career was on the line, just my reputation. I had to trust 16 young performers, 13 of whom were either 6th graders, or not in my choir class, to make all the work we had done all year count for something. And yes, my reputation as a director was riding on it.

They came through for me in a big way. My tiny choir got 2's for their ratings, which is "EXCELLENT", and much better than most of the directors around here were expecting.

At my giant choir school, the three top groups all got straight 1's, which is "SUPERIOR", and the other choir got a 2 on stage, and 1 in sight-reading. 1 is the best.

You know what's funny... I don't remember what our ratings were all those years ago, the 9 times I went to UIL for band or choir. I hope the kids in my choir don't remember anything but making their director very, very proud. That's what counts!

Big Girl

In the 10 days after Big Girl lost the first front tooth, she lost 2 more teeth: the other front tooth and the other bottom one that was loose (not the one in the middle). And the Saturday after that, she got glasses! I hardly recognize this kid. She's transforming into a "big kid" right before my eyes. The next thing I know, she'll be interested in boys and asking for the car keys... I'm so not ready for that.

Happy Birthday, Little Girl!

My baby is 5 today. I can't believe it!

She's a wonderful little girl.

Big Girl's Tooth

So far it's our first day off from school for Spring Break, and things are happening! Big Girl lost her second baby tooth today. She was eating an ice cream cone at Chick-fil-a, and it just fell out in her ice cream. She didn't even realize it had happened. She just thought there was something hard in her ice cream. There was- it was her tooth!

On April 21st, 2009, she lost her first tooth in her sleep. She must have swallowed it, because we never found it. She remembers it being April 21st. I trust her memory on such things. She's so good with details like that.

The tooth next to the gap, looking quite crooked in this picture, is also pretty loose. It's looser than the one in the middle on the bottom. Yes, she has a middle tooth. The permanent teeth are already in, and that baby tooth's partner is the one she lost April 21st. That baby tooth that's left has migrated to the middle, and is hanging on much more strongly than I'd like. We'll see what the dentist says on April 13th. The tooth immediately to the left of the permanent teeth on bottom is also very loose. Hopefully it will fall out nicely like the one she lost today.

Big Girl has a song in her head from Rock Band 2, "Psycho Killer." It's weird to hear her walking around the house singing it. Of course she's put the song in my head too. What a strange song...

Song in My Head

There's just nothing in this world that will put a weird song in your head like playing Rock Band 2... There are so many songs in the game I would never listen to in a million years that I not only listen to, but SING, just playing the game.

Tonight I played drums on songs I didn't even know and didn't fail! This is an accomplishment for me, as I am horrible at playing drums. I can make my fingers work independently of each other when I play the piano, but I just can't make my limbs work independently to play drums (real drums, not Rock Band 2 drums) to save my life. My husband has taught himself to do play drums in the last 5 years, and is quite good, and I find that completely amazing. His ability to do 4 different things with his 4 limbs blows my mind.

Today, right now, I have "In Bloom," by Nirvana, in my head. It's my husband's favorite Nirvana song. Just now I had to sing it to him to find out what song it was. Even though we played Rock Band 2 tonight, we didn't play this song. I don't know why this song is rolling around in my brain. Weird.

Peeve alert! I just hate it when I get a snippet of a song in my head, and I don't know it well enough to even sing it to myself. I can only hum a little part of it... So annoying!!

Rant over. It's been way too long sing I wrote a post related to the actual point of this blog. Sorry about that. I can't say that I will get my act together, since I know I probably won't. It's Spring Break now, so my life is a little less complicated for a week.

Who am I kidding? In this 5 days I don't have to go to work, I already have plans for 4 out of 5 of those days, including shopping with a friend, a doctor's appointment for Big Girl, meeting with another special ed mom, and hosting Little Girl's birthday party... Even though it's unscheduled, I'll spend the other day "off" sewing at my mother's sewing machine. Time off? Not exactly. Oh, and I also need to do laundry at some point! Ha! I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation!