destination wedding: regina edition

Hello again reader,

This summer, vacation plans centred around my friend Charlotte getting married in Regina, Saskatchewan. As far as destination weddings go - this destination wasn't the most exciting in the world. So - plans started forming about the epic roadtrip that could develop from heading west.

Here are the stats:

I left August 7 and returned about 5 hours ago (August 25 - promptly found a dead mouse under the sink and have spent all afternoon being grossed out about that and not putting away any of my crap...)

Anyways...

Over the last 18 sleeps I have

- put 11,544 more kilometres on my car (Ethyl)
- driven through 12 states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington)
- driven through 5 provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario)
- slept in my car 4 nights (Akron, Ohio; Atlanta, Iowa; Rock Springs, Wyoming; Winnipeg, Manitoba)
- slept in a hotel 4 nights (Troutdale, Oregon; Langley, British Columbia; Marathon, Ontario; North Bay, Ontario)
- slept in an airbnb apartment 4 nights (Regina, Saskatchewan)
- slept at Uncle Hans and Aunt Kinga's 1 night (Calgary, Alberta)
- slept at Shawn's 1 night (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
- slept at Michelle and Stu's 4 nights (Blumenort, Manitoba)

I have driven over the mountains, through the prairies, over the mountains, and back again.

I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean at Rockaway Beach in Oregon.

I got to hang out with Erica, Hans & Kinga, Megan, Shawn, Peter, Charlotte, Stephen, others at the wedding that I knew before, and those that it only feels like I knew them before, Nathan & Katy, and Michelle & Stu.

I had mostly good weather - there were a couple days where it was too hot for my non-air conditioned car, and a couple days where it rained all day (read the whole drive across Ontario) but overall I was comfortable.

I stopped at a stop on the Pony Express.

I stood on the top of beautiful gorges and was utterly awed while driving through them.

I played piano for a friends wedding at the oldest building in Saskatchewan (Regina?) - the chapel in depot.

I got to see a lot of Labrador people and it felt somewhat like home.

I visited places I have only read about.

More importantly I took a break.

Now I am back in Ottawa. I have 2 papers due by Monday but I would like to be done before Friday (1st day of work).

I should get to unpacking so I can sleep in my bed tonight...

It is 6 am and I have not yet been to bed. I am currently sitting in the school cafeteria watching the kids who were too stubborn to just go to bed despite bloodshot eyes and cranky attitudes. I'm doing fairly well - I got a 10 minute nap before heading out to lead discussion for a play at a local high school. That finished around 10/10:30 after which I headed back to Redeemer to start my chaperoning duties.

My hope is to sleep while they watch a movie this morning - we'll see if it actually happens or not. I have spent much of the evening staring at my civics notes... didn't get as far as I wanted - so I guess I"ll be doing that later...

I have no idea what I am saying anymore... This note shall stop.

school is officially over i guess - for the kids anyways. yesterday they wrote their last exams and went off on their merry way. so today is the first of a week and a half where the teachers come in and do their thing. i always have stuff to do for the first couple of days - for example right now i should be writing report card comments - but eventually the lists start getting checked off and we are all ready to hit the road. so far this morning i've already planned a baby shower, what to do for good byes for the people leaving and got someone else to plan the yearly staff lunch. i have emailed the realtor for the house that i want to buy and even got steve to start on fixing my coat rack for me... too bad none of this is helping get the report card comments finished - but it is fun.

i started a second blog - dailysmashrv.blogspot.ca - it is called 'sometimes' and it is my goal to do daily updates here with one line and a picture. so far i've done 3... we'll see if this is something i can keep up with.

sometimes your brother lets you borrow his car...

sometimes your drama student hands in an assignment with this on the cover...

you know when you're a teenager and watching a movie with your parents and that awkward sexually infused scene comes on the screen and you end up sitting very still in hopes that the scene will pass and the movie will return to normal and no one needs to comment on anything that just went down. i have decided it is even more awkward when you are sitting next to your boss and you are watching various scenes from high school shows that happened in ottawa this year.
last night i had the pleasure of attending the cappies gala at the nac - there is no sarcasm in that - i honestly enjoy the gala.... it is basically like the tonys for high school students. all year students have been attending each participating school's plays/musicals and writing reviews that get posted in the citizen and then nominate their peers in a variety of categories which culminates in this huge award show. it is loud, high energy, and long.... but i love it. throughout the evening, each show nominated for best play/musical has the opportunity to perform an excerpt. my kids were nominated for charlie brown last year and got to perform - this year we were not nominated in that category so we got to watch (decidedly less stressful). i am pretty sure that of the 10 scenes we saw, 8 were full of sexual innuendo... this is not an abnormal thing in theatre - believe me, i have read many a play over the last 3 years attempting to find something that is appropriate for our school community and very few fit the bill. obviously the public/catholic schools have a different yardstick to measure the appropriateness of their theatre (as they should i guess) but it led to an evening of me trying to sit very still and my boss leaning over after most clips saying "we will NOT be doing that one next year"
the evening was good - we did not win anything, but were nominated for 3 (props, composition, and lead actress). i enjoyed sitting in a box - i got a comfy swivel chair and was able to put my feet up on the edge of the box and i could see everything clearly - also i did not go deaf from the insane cheering that happens... but it also meant missing all the insane cheering and whatnot. all in all a good evening.

All the nominees gather back on the stage at the end of the show for a final number. 

It is 11pm and I am currently sitting on the floor in the hallway of a residence building waiting for the sounds of chatter to cease in the rooms around me so I can end this vigil and go to bed. I have a feeling that morning is going to come rather quickly and despite the new bed yet again - I will be sleeping semi-soundly tonight. Well - soundly while still keeping one ear open for kids in the halls.
Today went well. Laughed that everytime we climbed back on the bus all the teacher chaperones immidiately conked out for 30 minutes or so... Almost like we anticipated the little amount of sleep in store for us. The kids told me today that most teachers have a no sense of humour - but I do.... While I think they were intending that as a compliment all I can think is that I must be doing something wrong.
This has been a busy couple of weeks... The play ramped up to 3-4 hour rehearsals every day after school and on Easter Monday finally culminating in 4 exhausting performances. It is so stressful to be that on edge for weeks straight. We went from it being "the 6.5 hour" show the week before we were on to the "2.5 hour" show (a place I was comfortable) to the "1.5 hour" show on dress rehearsal day - im still not really sure how they pulled that one off. The performances tended to sit closer to the 2.10 mark which I was happy with. The shows went well - the crowds and the cappies seemed to like us - we find out May 13 if we've been nominated for anything - fingers crossed.
The week after the play closed we had choir festival. I LOVED it this year - mostly because Jen was one of the conductors and it was nice to catch up with her - and she was such an influence on who I am as a conductor that it was fun for me to hear from my kids how similar we run things. We slept over at the school this year which meant I got very little sleep, but it was great for the kids and itwas nice that we had the chance to do one last midnight rehearsal together. On the way back a van broke down so we had the added fun of spending an hour or so on the side of the 401. My kids amused themselves by singing through all the worship songs on my ipad - it didnt seem to phase them.
This week it's school trips. Im in Quebec with the grade 10s.
It is 11:45pm and all seems quiet. I am off to bed.

there were approx 5 minutes last week when i felt like things were in control.

i was in the middle of a number of email conversations / text conversations, i had my lessons planned and was up to date on my marking. i may have even slept well the night before.

then the 5 minutes ended.

mid-conversation.

life picked up, and while i am currently taking time to write this, it is definitely taking the place of "more important" things that have to get done. the ministry inspector came to visit our school last week - and surprisingly came to visit me. i always major stress out about these visits and do many late nights etc. getting my binders back up to snuff, lesson plans printed and properly organized, kids refreshed as to what 'assessment as/of/for learning' is, etc. normally i do this but am still mercifully left alone. no one wants to visit the drama class - you never know what might be happening. but this year, the inspector was a retired drama teacher - so into the bat-cave (aka my classroom) he appeared. it wasn't nearly as bad as i expected and i think it was the day following his visit that i felt calm again.

but then 11:30 came and classes began. things need to be printed in advance; music kids need help with their compositions - trying to learn their version of finale on the fly; lines are not memorized for the play; the design for the taxi needs to be approved; choir festival is in 3 weeks - can you get the music up on edmodo so we can practice at home; someone needs to buy makeup, hairbands, screws; don't forget you need to purchase a piano this year; bible study topic of the week is 'predestination' - be sure you've read your articles and bible passages and have a handle on things; mark the journals and the practice logs and the compositions and the reflections; teach the play kids how to waltz; plan what you are going to teach; teach.

i have to-do lists everywhere which is not helping the organization.

but amid the madness there are moments of greatness. skyping with the boys in uganda; doing the 'ugandan mile' - singing one direction songs at a coffee house accompanied by the accordion, having my drama class present a hilariously accurate portrayal of the teachers at this school, playing truth or dare with the grade 11 girls at 2 am, watching frozen as a school after most of them had not slept, those 3 hours of sleep in my own bed between truth or dare and frozen, talking on the phone with the boys at kwagala because their power was out and we couldn't skype but we still got to share the success of our fundraiser and have a joint 'pizza' party; worship team practice with scott, rich, roelof, and curtis while so tired you could barely see straight; seeing the play kids in costume starting to see who there characters really are.

now i am attempting to finish sewing slippers before erin and ben get hitched this weekend. it may or may not happen.

i think i might start blogging again. my class schedule this semester has me doing homeroom in the morning and then nothing until 11:30 (and then i teach straight until 5). during that morning prep time i tend to get a lot done, but it usually takes me a bit of time to find focus. perhaps blogging will help me get into the administrative work that needs to be done. perhaps it wont - this may be a completely failed experiment.

school is going well this year. i have a new classroom and a new office which means i never see anyone else unless i venture out to the fishbowl where the rest of the teachers work, but despite having less adult interaction throughout the day i am really enjoying the new set up.

the play this year is pygmalion and things are going well... i am going insane, but they are going well. we've started to gather props already and this is when i realize that i need an assistant to keep track of the administrative details - hopefully i don't have too much falling through the cracks.

anyways - that's enough for today. i need to approve furniture and mark drama journals and study up about early opera... tata

Today I am exhausted. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I was still wide awake at 4:30 am and was out of bed by 8:30 - perhaps not.
This past week was a good one. I went to Stratford on Wednesday to see Fiddler on the Roof (by myself) and Three Musketeers (with Mom, Dad, and Dave). Fiddler was better in my opinion. The singing was mostly great and the dancing was fun and in general the choreography made sense with the story. Musketeers was also good but not AS good as Fiddler. There were some line drops and minor light errors and a dude sitting beside us with a motorized oxygen tank that whirred for the entirety of the play. From there I went back to London - got up the next morning for my online class and then did nothing until pub. Hung out with the pub crowd for a bit and then went home and to bed. Friday I got up - did a bit of class stuff in the morning and then spent the rest of my day in traffic - 6.5 hours from London to Trenton. I ended up missing the rehearsal for Jennie`s wedding but that was fine. We hung out Friday night, got up the next morning to get hair and makeup done and then went off to the church. The wedding itself was lovely - I figured out where to go despite being first and not having practised. Pictures after were a little insane - we went into Presquile Park and got eaten alive by the mosquitos and annoyed by the passing cars. Hopefully the photographer got some nice shots - she was a little crazy.
The reception was fun - hung out with some randoms and some not randoms. Stayed to the end (only 1am thank goodness) and then went back to the house for some sleep.
Sunday morning I started the treck back - ended up in Kitchener with Christina for a couple hours and then eventually made it to London where I crawled into bed but did not sleep. Today I putzed around for the morning and then went to school around one to print some stuff off. While there I checked my course website and realized I had homework due by 6 tonight (it is done.... a whole 1/2 hour early I might add...) so it's been a mad rush to complete that.
Tonigh'ts plan involves prepping for my article presentation for class tomorrow - oh the student's life's for me :P