I just had the best 45 minutes ever.
It needs some back story though.
Monday: I was exhausted and falling asleep in class, and just generally worn out and discouraged by my day. I went to water polo practice that night and it was amazing! It felt so good to be in a real pool, a real D1 college legit pool, not just some gym country club pool. My practice was from 8:15-10:15 pm at night, but when I got back I was so pumped and not tired at all! I stayed up probably for about two hours after that making my lunch and getting things done that I needed to do. I was still a little frustrated though because I had lost my keys at school and was mildly fretting.
So, going to bed at 12:15, a good thing and a bad thing. Good- got things done. Bad- not enough sleep to successfully complete the next day since I had to be up and moving at 6.
Tuesday: About six alarms go off, me: "argggghhhh." I finally mustered myself to get out of bed 20 minutes later than usual, didn't shower and made a pretty filling breakfast.
I decided coffee was going to be a necessity to get me through this Tuesday. On the way to pick up the two wonderful ladies I carpool with, I stopped at Valero to grab a BIG HUNKA thing of coffee. I then stuck a straw in it and was ready to head to work. I tried going a new way to pick up the other girls, but for all of you who know me, this is a baaad, baad, idea. I am very directionally impaired so got super lost somehow on this new awesome way. So I ended up driving myself to work while finishing my breakfast, and we ended up driving separately. I got to school on time though which was good, which meant I had time (5 minutes) to suck down as much coffee as I could into my system. CAFFEINE OVERLOAD! The last time I had a full cup of java, was, a while ago. And this was a mega cup. So from about 7:45am-6:30pm I was killing it! I was so energized all day, which was good because I had forgotten my lunch, and instead of freaking out, I had the energy to deal with it- and the awesomest team leader in the world (so Courtney went and got me some 99 cent chicken..). But anyway it was a great day, mostly because I constantly had energy. I was always ready to work with each kid!
I also had started a sticker chart system yesterday, where kids in my classes get stickers for good behaviors (being on time to class, paying attention, finishing all their classwork, etc). I only originally intended it for two girls who had requested it last Friday, but word soon spread that Miss Sarah was handing out stickers and making charts, and EVERYONE wanted one. Who knew the way to get seventh graders to work is to reward them with Spongebob and Dora the Explorer stickers? I do now! It's good I had all that energy because kids were calling me all day, "Sarah, Sarah, Miss, Miss, where is MY sticker???". So that was awesome that a behavior management technique I implemented is actually being a little bit successful, even if this implementation was kind of an accident. Hey! So were chocolate cookies!
But anyway 6:45 hits and I start getting a little discouraged. During my drive home with one of my team mates we started talking about kind of our lows for the day, and how it seems like we can see the administration breaking under the pressure. The teachers who went into education for some reason, are now being broken by classrooms filled with too many kids at too many levels that seems possible to deal with. It's also frustrating with all of the red tape we have to go through, totally understandable, but very frustrating.
So I dropped her off and check the time. Crap. It was 7:15 and I had been planning to go to a yoga class that started at 7. I could still feasibly go and be late, but I needed to go make an extra copy of my key and that meant a trip to Walmart. I debated putting it off, but reassessed the necessity of ya know, having a house key and decided it was worth the trip. So I go to Walmart, get a copy of the key made, buy lots of school supplies (my new way to splurge is to buy school supplies for my students- I am a dork), and bought some other random groceries I had forgotten to buy on Sunday. By the time I left Walmart it was like 7:45 and I was discouraged.
I still wanted to go to the gym though, I kept trying to convince myself otherwise though:
"Now Sarah, you forgot your headphones."
"Now Sarah, you really need to get a lot of sleep tonight."
"Now Sarah, maybe you should just relax, you've had a long day only running on coffee."
"Now Sarah, go home, now!"
However with water polo, I need to figure out if I want to keep my gym membership, because it works out to be about $65 a month spent on athletic things. And that's a lot considering my current salary, so I really wanted to go to the gym to 1. Decide if I want to continue going 2. Get my money's worth.
I roll up to the gym rather resentful of the fact that I am there. Luckily I discover I do have my headphones!
I walk in and oh crap, I remember what I am walking in with- my timbs. Not my gym shoes (because I had assumed I was going to yoga class), but just boots. Awww crap. After a brief pep talk from the wonderful woman at the front desk and the fact that I already am inside, I decide to stay.
I trudge up the walkway to get to the machine room and am checking my email when I see this awesome email from Abe Johns, Admissions Manager. I am blogging for the CY blog (I'll post a link when it gets officially published!) and I had sent him my blog, just assuming it would be edited and I'd see the final thing when it gets published. I was on my high school paper and there was a lot of times when my piece got submitted, and then edited beyond recognition, and then published- without my knowledge of the edits. With my name on it! So I would have this piece of work floating around that I didn't really feel I had a claim or connection too, and since I wrote for Opinion (presumably my opinion), it was kind of a big deal. My adviser/Opinion editor always claimed he was too busy to send me a copy. Now I know that working for City Year you often have 12 hour plus days. If anyone is too busy, rightfully so, to do something like that, it should be that City Year person. But Abe took the time to email me and that meant the world to me.
So back to the gym, I walk in feeling slightly more optimistic than I had before, but still kind of hanging my head because I am going to look absolutely ridiculous in these boots and gym shorts.
I get on the eliptical and do a grueling 45 minutes, 510 calories, 4.87 mile work out.
I killed it. I put in some SERIOUS WORK.
I got off that eliptical feeling I owned the world. If I can do all that, and in my timbs. Nothing is going to break me! Not silly boy problems! Not red tape! No sir, no miss, my name is Sarah Klyman and I am here to do work! And ladies (and gents) I'm going to let you in on a secret, if you want to feel like a (pardon my french) bad ass chick, work out in Timbs. I walked out of the gym feeling 5,000 miles above the ground- ready to conquer the world!
I got in my car and looked for a song to blast to with the windows down. The only things that were coming on were crooners like "I need you now baby", switch the station, "You got what I need", switch, "Without you, I can't do me". Alright now this is getting a little ridiculous, here I was with this positive can do attitude like I can conquer the world and here were all these songs where I need you, no: I NEED ME (and my timbs). All of a sudden the song "Get the Party Started" by Pink came on. If you are looking for independent gal, look no further than Pink. So I blasted it and jammed out and am feeling on top of the world.
In summation:
1. Coffee is my savior.
2. I want to savor this feeling I have right now for the rest of this year, heck, for the rest of my life. That, I, can conquer the world if I set my mind to it and show up to get work done.
Daily Hero:
(Any of you who made it through this long blog post- it was fun to write! Hope it was fun to read!)
My timbs.
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