I think I found it! I think I found just the right apartment for me! It's going to be so great! It hasn't come open yet but it will be very shortly and the price is right and the location is right and it's oh so pretty!
Let me tell you about it. So it's right down close to the school and to downtown. I didn't even know there were apartments there. I just happened to be jogging with Paula after school (jogging, yuck!) and we were passing by what looks like an old warehouse down on the edge of downtown. There was a sign on the door that said "apartments for rent". I wasn't sure if apartments in an old warehouse would be something I would like, so I ducked in just to pick up a brochure. I asked the lady at the front desk about it and she was soooo nice. We had been running for like twenty minutes and I smelled terrible and was sweating like a pig (Paula never smells bad, no matter how much she sweats. I don't know how she does it.) anyway, she insisted on giving us a tour of the place and took us up to see the apartment they would be renting out. It's nice and homey and (I know it won't stay this way but...) the old lady who had been living there had it all decorated in this beautiful old fashioned cottage theme. The family was moving her stuff out over the next few weeks, so not open yet, but the lady said that we could sign a lease as soon as I was ready.
Am I ready? I feel so ready! I've lived with Edana, and LaShawn, and Paula for almost ten years now, ever since mom and dad died. I'm so ready to have my own place.
But this is like the first time in...ever that Paula and I have gotten along. For the first time in our lives we're actually like sisters. This oughta tell you something about how close we are: I was talking about going out on my twentieth birthday and not only did she say she was going to force me to go out with her, she offered to lend me some clothes. Paula does not let her clothes out of her sight for anything. When she takes a bus to a show, she refuses to leave her clothes suitcase under the bus. She takes it as a carry on! Granted, most of her clothes aren't going to fit me. Paula has a lot more hip and chest than I do (by the way, totally not fair, she's eighteen for Christ's sake!). You better believe I'm going to take her up on the shoes though. I'm not looking forward to being dragged around clubs by the prettiest girl in town, but if I'm going to do it I'm going to do it in some awesome shoes!
So, I think for sure I have to get out of this house, but I have to find a way to keep Paula as close to me as she is now. I can't lose that. It's nice to have a REAL sister, even if she doesn't come to the dojo anymore.
P.S. She doesn't come to the dojo anymore because I keep kicking her butt!
Bad Day
So, there's this kid in my class (I thought after I graduated high school I'd never start a sentence like that again)... anyway...there's this girl in one of the classes I teach, her name is Ororo. Beautiful name, it means soft and silky. Suffice to say, this girl is nothing if not inaccurately named.
Ororo is a junior taking English Literature and she is brilliant. I mean, when we do papers I always put hers aside to read right after a particularly bad one (and girl there are plenty of those). Usually the smart kids are either the quiet ones or well...how should I say this...calm? Smart kids generally find a way not to get into fights. Ororo has never been one to let anything stop her from doing what she wants to do though. I was in the hallway, waiting for class to begin, and I can just hear snippets of this conversation that's going on. Two of the little ebony princesses that run the school are gossiping about something. Well, Ororo was walking by and must have heard something she didn't like, because she decided to tell them off. Well, one of them was smart enough to keep their mouth shut, seeing as she was half Ororo's size, but the other one just couldn't let it go. She gets all up in Ororo's face and says, "Mind your own business, bitch!"
And thenceforth, it was on. Not that it lasted very long. Ororo gave the girl a solid jab right to the bridge of her nose. It was like a popping sound *pop* and the girl's nose was two pieces. Unfortunately, the girl was not smart enough to leave it at that. She decided to catfight Ororo. By the time I finally broke it up (which I'm very proud of, I put Ororo in a full nelson! How often do you get to use your martial arts skills as a teacher!) Ororo had one nasty scratch on her cheek and the other girls was upside down in a trash can.
Really though, you have to stop here and imagine it. Think of the elitist little princess you know, now picture her pretty little legs in a pair of my aunt's (Edana's) designer high heels, kicking from the inside of a trash can. Honestly, I wanted to high five Ororo, but high-fiving in a FULL NELSON doesn't work.
Now here's the thing that gets me. I have this weird attachment to Ororo, It's not just because she's smart, but because her mom was in my mom's English class all the way back when she was pregnant with me. Weird, right? We're out the twenties where people grew up and lived in the same town their whole life. Except, you know, with a war and natural disaster in between.
Natural disaster...that reminds me, I haven't heard from my Aunt Danae in a long time...I need to call her when I get a chance. I want to go visit her in Florida when I get a chance, but when would I have a chance? C'est la vie!
Anyway, long story short, Ororo is on her last warning before she gets booted from general education to military school. Ororo would not do well in the military, big problem with authority. So her mom and I are having regular meetings from this point on to update her on Ororo's progress. I don't mind, it's actually going to be strangely nice to devote time to a kid I like (usually the kids that need the extra attention are butt holes!)
Okay, so I finally hear Paula getting out of the bathroom, so I am going to sink into a long hot bath.
Oh, by the way, I've been looking at apartments! It'll be great not to share a bathroom with my little sister any more.
Ororo is a junior taking English Literature and she is brilliant. I mean, when we do papers I always put hers aside to read right after a particularly bad one (and girl there are plenty of those). Usually the smart kids are either the quiet ones or well...how should I say this...calm? Smart kids generally find a way not to get into fights. Ororo has never been one to let anything stop her from doing what she wants to do though. I was in the hallway, waiting for class to begin, and I can just hear snippets of this conversation that's going on. Two of the little ebony princesses that run the school are gossiping about something. Well, Ororo was walking by and must have heard something she didn't like, because she decided to tell them off. Well, one of them was smart enough to keep their mouth shut, seeing as she was half Ororo's size, but the other one just couldn't let it go. She gets all up in Ororo's face and says, "Mind your own business, bitch!"
And thenceforth, it was on. Not that it lasted very long. Ororo gave the girl a solid jab right to the bridge of her nose. It was like a popping sound *pop* and the girl's nose was two pieces. Unfortunately, the girl was not smart enough to leave it at that. She decided to catfight Ororo. By the time I finally broke it up (which I'm very proud of, I put Ororo in a full nelson! How often do you get to use your martial arts skills as a teacher!) Ororo had one nasty scratch on her cheek and the other girls was upside down in a trash can.
Really though, you have to stop here and imagine it. Think of the elitist little princess you know, now picture her pretty little legs in a pair of my aunt's (Edana's) designer high heels, kicking from the inside of a trash can. Honestly, I wanted to high five Ororo, but high-fiving in a FULL NELSON doesn't work.
Now here's the thing that gets me. I have this weird attachment to Ororo, It's not just because she's smart, but because her mom was in my mom's English class all the way back when she was pregnant with me. Weird, right? We're out the twenties where people grew up and lived in the same town their whole life. Except, you know, with a war and natural disaster in between.
Natural disaster...that reminds me, I haven't heard from my Aunt Danae in a long time...I need to call her when I get a chance. I want to go visit her in Florida when I get a chance, but when would I have a chance? C'est la vie!
Anyway, long story short, Ororo is on her last warning before she gets booted from general education to military school. Ororo would not do well in the military, big problem with authority. So her mom and I are having regular meetings from this point on to update her on Ororo's progress. I don't mind, it's actually going to be strangely nice to devote time to a kid I like (usually the kids that need the extra attention are butt holes!)
Okay, so I finally hear Paula getting out of the bathroom, so I am going to sink into a long hot bath.
Oh, by the way, I've been looking at apartments! It'll be great not to share a bathroom with my little sister any more.
This is Silly
Okay, here I am, doing this blog thing. It's a silly idea, I really don't have anything to say. I was just reminded recently of my dad and how he told me that the secret to being a writer is to do it. So here I am, Zuri Wallace, being a writer. I can't imagine who would want to read my blog.
Hmmm...What do I write about on here anyway? Isn't it weird that an English teacher can't make up a prompt for herself? It's ridiculous is what it is. Anyway, I'll just go with the old standby of writing about something that's important to me.
Teaching. As long as I can remember I've wanted to be a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to do a lot of other things in the process, but that has been a constant for me. I can remember chasing Paula around the house with a copy of one of my dad's books and forcing her to listen to me read. She used to hate it, but I felt like that was the only way to get better (and I wanted her to hear my favorite stories (not to mention, I was in a lot of them)). When I was five, my mom brought me home some supplies from an old classroom that they were throwing out. There was a tiny whiteboard that she mounted on my wall as well as a school desk and some old markers. I used to sit my doll Halliberry up in the desk and make her listen to me teach about "The Twilight Princess" or the old books I used to read with mom and dad like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."
I always loved to read. I think that was my parents' doing. I remember thinking that if everyone had parents like mine, they would all love to read. Maybe that's part of my goal as a teacher, to make kids as excited by a story like Othello as I am. To be honest, as much as I want to understand people's apathy toward great literature, I just can't.
After my two years of service as a Service Teacher, I knew that I wanted to become a career teacher. My mentor was the greatest. Teena Julian was her name, she still teaches in Atlanta, but we haven't talked in awhile. She had had my mom as a teacher years before and the first thing she said to me was that she would be shamed if she couldn't make me at least as good a teacher as my mom made her. Just thinking about it almost makes me cry. I really miss my mommy sometimes!
Oh God, way off topic. So, yeah, I guess that's going to conclude my first blog entry. It ain't exactly five paragraph form, but it's close enough for jazz. Wow, I have never used that term before and it just came out. I guess it's true though, blogging is sort of the jazz of writing. You just say what you say as it comes to you. I just hope none of my students ever find this blog, then I can't say anything bad about them on it. Mwa ha ha.
Hmmm...What do I write about on here anyway? Isn't it weird that an English teacher can't make up a prompt for herself? It's ridiculous is what it is. Anyway, I'll just go with the old standby of writing about something that's important to me.
Teaching. As long as I can remember I've wanted to be a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to do a lot of other things in the process, but that has been a constant for me. I can remember chasing Paula around the house with a copy of one of my dad's books and forcing her to listen to me read. She used to hate it, but I felt like that was the only way to get better (and I wanted her to hear my favorite stories (not to mention, I was in a lot of them)). When I was five, my mom brought me home some supplies from an old classroom that they were throwing out. There was a tiny whiteboard that she mounted on my wall as well as a school desk and some old markers. I used to sit my doll Halliberry up in the desk and make her listen to me teach about "The Twilight Princess" or the old books I used to read with mom and dad like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."
I always loved to read. I think that was my parents' doing. I remember thinking that if everyone had parents like mine, they would all love to read. Maybe that's part of my goal as a teacher, to make kids as excited by a story like Othello as I am. To be honest, as much as I want to understand people's apathy toward great literature, I just can't.
After my two years of service as a Service Teacher, I knew that I wanted to become a career teacher. My mentor was the greatest. Teena Julian was her name, she still teaches in Atlanta, but we haven't talked in awhile. She had had my mom as a teacher years before and the first thing she said to me was that she would be shamed if she couldn't make me at least as good a teacher as my mom made her. Just thinking about it almost makes me cry. I really miss my mommy sometimes!
Oh God, way off topic. So, yeah, I guess that's going to conclude my first blog entry. It ain't exactly five paragraph form, but it's close enough for jazz. Wow, I have never used that term before and it just came out. I guess it's true though, blogging is sort of the jazz of writing. You just say what you say as it comes to you. I just hope none of my students ever find this blog, then I can't say anything bad about them on it. Mwa ha ha.
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