If you ever looked closely, you'd notice I have a tendency to go "all in" with respect to many aspects of my life. Paleo would be a good, recent example. I'm all about "drinking the Kool-Aid" when it comes to new things, shiny things. Things that I think will permanently change my life forever. I don't know when this began happening to me, but for those who know me best (and my mom would give a vigorous head-nod in agreement), I tend to lose sight of those things over time. Sometimes it's a short time, other times much longer, but inevitably, usually I lose interest fairly quickly in things that previously held so much appeal. Now, I'm not saying I'm done with meditation (as the title might imply), rather, on Sunday, I completely lost interest and basically dropped myself out of the meditation class. What's funny about that was that I was the one who was so hung-ho about the whole thing in the first place. In fact, I managed to get four other people involved in it as well. The first night was a little boring/cheesy/new agey, but I persevered. The next night was just OK for me. By the third night, I had accepted my fate, but was definitely getting tired of the time commitment and the seemingly endless lectures by our guru lady. By the fourth night (Friday), I was a little bitter that I was spending so much time on the cement floor, again, listening to some long, drawn out, halfway intelligible "lessons" about how to live life. You can't just tell people things like, "Don't be a football for other people's emotions," "What you resist will persist," or even, "Opposite values are complimentary" and expect that they'll become engrained in people's heads. I'd love to stop reacting to people or to stop caring entirely about other people's opinions of me, but let's face it, this isn't going to happen overnight just because you said it, lady. So by Saturday, when I had to spend from 3-7 at the studio, I was just flat out annoyed. However, the one thing that was keeping me coming back was that I really did want to learn how to do the 20-minute Sudarshan Kriya on my own, so that I could begin doing it in the comfort of my own shitty apartment (more on that later). By Saturday, we had done the Kriya our fourth time, and I was sure that I had it memorized. After we had done the yoga and breathing (about a 1.5-2 hour process in all), the rest of the time was spent listening to her and another guy drone on and on. But the kicker was yet to come. Just when I thought I couldn't be any more annoyed by my being there, they pulled the ultimate on me. They opened with a story about how Sri Sri Ravi Shankar could understand people by simply looking into their eyes and immediately I knew where this was going. I knew where it was going, and I didn't like it at all, but I was stuck. And sure enough, within minutes, there I was, sitting face-to-face on the floor, looking into some Indian dudes eyes for like five minutes without saying a word. It was SO awkward! And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, we had to hug after! Oh no, but wait, there's more. So after him, I'm supposed to turn and do this again with another partner. Lucky me, it's a cute Indian woman! But no! At the last minute, they run over and swap her out with an old Indian man! So there we are, staring into one another's eyes for about three minutes or so, and then finally, the best part, the part where we get to close our eyes. I hear the guy on the microphone say, "If you want to hold the other person's hands, you can do that." I was thinking, "No way this dude's gonna hold my hands. He can barely keep eye contact with me he's so uncomfortable." But then, what do I feel on my hands? This dude, reaching out to hold them. Really dude?! So now, eyes are back open, and I'm sitting there, holding this dude's hands and starting into his eyes again. Only this time, he can barely keep eye contact with me. So wait, you want to hold hands with me, but you can't even look at me?! I was over it completely at that point, and couldn't wait to leave. And when I heard them say right before class was dismissed that we'd be doing it the next day, I knew I would never last.
After class got out, I went and grabbed some dinner at my new favorite spot, "Hot Chips," which is the place I posted on FB about yesterday. All veg, extensive menu, air conditioned, and if you're lucky, you can watch two Indian men having a Jerry Springer-esque slapping fight right inside the place (like they did my first time there...it was hilarious). After I ate, I went home and cleaned up. I also had a couple of swigs from my $40 bottle of BOMBAY SAPPHIRE (what?!) before heading out to the "dance party" being held at the theater director's THREE STORY house that he lives in ALL BY HIMSELF (I haven't forgotten about my apartment...that's up next). Anyway, it was a fun party, but because I hadn't had a drink in over a week, my tolerance was super low. No, I didn't black out and make a fool out of myself. Funny how having to drink room-temperature gin and tonics (because it's not like you can make an ice run in India) will slow down your pace. But still, when you're drinking 47% gin, it doesn't take much.
I woke up the next morning not feeling terrible, just tired, but certainly in no mood to go sit on a concrete floor OR dance around the place OR stare into other guys' eyes. I was over it completely. About 15 minutes in, I made up my mind and left. Just got up and walked right out the door. Before I left, I leaned over and told Holly and Laura that I was gonna bounce. Holly said, "You'll be mad at yourself if you do." Boy was she wrong! I practically floated home on Cloud Nine baby. I went and grabbed some grub at Hot Chips, then I made my way to the school. I told myself that I really needed to leave the class because I had so much to do at school (I REALLY do...seriously), but once I got there, I ended up grabbing a cushion from the corner and passing out on the floor for the next two hours. When I woke up, I attempted to do some work, but it was futile. I just have SO much to do that I literally don't even know where to begin. So, I decided to do the next best thing, which was to "work" on my fitness. I hit the pool and busted out 40 laps and felt great. Then it was back to Hot Chips where more great (and cheap!) dinner was had. I spent about $3 for a curry bowl, a large bottle of water, and two orders of garlic naan. And this place is actually somewhat expensive, comparatively speaking! Crazy.
I want to go back to the school topic for a minute so I can elaborate on how unbelievably overwhelming it is to attempt to learn five new subjects. The whole English Language Arts program is starting to make more sense to me, but I have also recently found out that although the school had used their math curriculum in the past, apparently admin has decided that we shouldn't really be using it anymore, that instead, we should be developing conceptual math lessons. For non-teachers, what this basically boils down to is presenting math in a way that really makes kids think, that's open-ended, that's performance-task related, etc. So that means, no math textbook, no worksheets, no 30 problems show all of your work. This is good for kids, but a helluva lot of work for the teachers. And not only that, but we also have to basically invent our SS unit. Today, I made some good gains on planning a few projects for the kids (I'm all about projects). I planned one in particular and shared it on Google Drive with my co-workers, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not what we're "supposed to be doing." To hell with it. I think the kids will like it, and it'll keep me from sitting in front of the class talking (which is what the school is really about).
Now let's talk my apartment. I really don't like my apartment. Never have, never will. When I first walked into it, I looked around and kind of thought to myself, "WTF?!" I mean, it's not terrible, but after spending some time at other people's houses, my place just sucks. Plain and simple. It was billed as a nice place because of the amenities, but there's just no way I'm ever going to actually use them. I mean, it does have a decent pool, but apparently there are usually a bunch of kids in it. I'm not trying to be the weird guy down in the pool swimming around with a bunch of kids. Plus, I have the pool at school, which DOESN'T have kids and DOESN'T have a dog-leg left in it. And then there's the "weight room." Hardly. The only redeeming quality it has is the scale that I've been trekking over there to use to track my weight loss progress. But neither of these things is enough to want to keep me here. My location with regard to the school is pretty awesome, however. In fact, I'm probably about as close as one can be (one mile), so it makes for a pretty easy commute. However, there are no other teachers around me, and really, it's a pretty boring area. There's another area just northwest of me, over towards the beach, that's the prime location in town. It's only about a 15-minute walk from here (or 4-5 minutes in a tuk tuk), but really, there are no redeeming qualities besides my beloved Hot Chips. So today, I was in getting a reimbursement from the finance department when the director of personnel, Josephine, called me into her office to see how I was doing. She asked me about the custom bed that they made for me and whether it was long enough. I replied honestly and said that while I was delighted that it was now seven feet long (and I could finally sleep comfortably at night without my hair touching my headboard), I didn't love the fact that width-wise, it turned from the size of a king into a twin. But, I told her, I wasn't trying to complain. I appreciated what the school had done for me. Then she told me that this bed was only temporary, and that in three weeks or so, a king sized mattress would be coming and this one was just to tie me over until it gets here. SWEET!!! So then, after that, I was feeling so comfortable, I asked her if she had ever seen my apartment. She said no, so I decided to tell her how it was. Hold no punches. I said, "It's horrible and I hate it." She said, "You know you can move once at the school's expense, right?" I told her that I was aware of this, but didn't want to be the complaining guy and that if I could live for a year in a fraternity house, I could certainly deal with this place. She then asked me if I wanted to check out a place where some other teachers are moving from (too small for them). It's in the best neighborhood and has a beach view, but what comes with that is having to literally see 5-10 guys a day taking a shit on the beach. At first when they told me that they had to deal with this, I laughed and said that maybe it'd be fun to start a blog or website with pictures (far away) of these guys being disgusting animals, but now that I could really do that, I'm not so sure I'm still interested. However, the awesome location and being right across the street from the beach is tempting indeed. She told me my lease was up in October, so I could either take this place, or, if I wanted to wait a bit longer, she'd partner me up with a realtor who'd take me around to look at places. I asked her if I could get in touch with HH International, which is exactly what I'm going to do when I get done with this blog! Probably not a high probability of that actually happening, but still a fun idea.
Alright, gotta go research the HH website...wish me luck!
Ben
After class got out, I went and grabbed some dinner at my new favorite spot, "Hot Chips," which is the place I posted on FB about yesterday. All veg, extensive menu, air conditioned, and if you're lucky, you can watch two Indian men having a Jerry Springer-esque slapping fight right inside the place (like they did my first time there...it was hilarious). After I ate, I went home and cleaned up. I also had a couple of swigs from my $40 bottle of BOMBAY SAPPHIRE (what?!) before heading out to the "dance party" being held at the theater director's THREE STORY house that he lives in ALL BY HIMSELF (I haven't forgotten about my apartment...that's up next). Anyway, it was a fun party, but because I hadn't had a drink in over a week, my tolerance was super low. No, I didn't black out and make a fool out of myself. Funny how having to drink room-temperature gin and tonics (because it's not like you can make an ice run in India) will slow down your pace. But still, when you're drinking 47% gin, it doesn't take much.
I woke up the next morning not feeling terrible, just tired, but certainly in no mood to go sit on a concrete floor OR dance around the place OR stare into other guys' eyes. I was over it completely. About 15 minutes in, I made up my mind and left. Just got up and walked right out the door. Before I left, I leaned over and told Holly and Laura that I was gonna bounce. Holly said, "You'll be mad at yourself if you do." Boy was she wrong! I practically floated home on Cloud Nine baby. I went and grabbed some grub at Hot Chips, then I made my way to the school. I told myself that I really needed to leave the class because I had so much to do at school (I REALLY do...seriously), but once I got there, I ended up grabbing a cushion from the corner and passing out on the floor for the next two hours. When I woke up, I attempted to do some work, but it was futile. I just have SO much to do that I literally don't even know where to begin. So, I decided to do the next best thing, which was to "work" on my fitness. I hit the pool and busted out 40 laps and felt great. Then it was back to Hot Chips where more great (and cheap!) dinner was had. I spent about $3 for a curry bowl, a large bottle of water, and two orders of garlic naan. And this place is actually somewhat expensive, comparatively speaking! Crazy.
I want to go back to the school topic for a minute so I can elaborate on how unbelievably overwhelming it is to attempt to learn five new subjects. The whole English Language Arts program is starting to make more sense to me, but I have also recently found out that although the school had used their math curriculum in the past, apparently admin has decided that we shouldn't really be using it anymore, that instead, we should be developing conceptual math lessons. For non-teachers, what this basically boils down to is presenting math in a way that really makes kids think, that's open-ended, that's performance-task related, etc. So that means, no math textbook, no worksheets, no 30 problems show all of your work. This is good for kids, but a helluva lot of work for the teachers. And not only that, but we also have to basically invent our SS unit. Today, I made some good gains on planning a few projects for the kids (I'm all about projects). I planned one in particular and shared it on Google Drive with my co-workers, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not what we're "supposed to be doing." To hell with it. I think the kids will like it, and it'll keep me from sitting in front of the class talking (which is what the school is really about).
Now let's talk my apartment. I really don't like my apartment. Never have, never will. When I first walked into it, I looked around and kind of thought to myself, "WTF?!" I mean, it's not terrible, but after spending some time at other people's houses, my place just sucks. Plain and simple. It was billed as a nice place because of the amenities, but there's just no way I'm ever going to actually use them. I mean, it does have a decent pool, but apparently there are usually a bunch of kids in it. I'm not trying to be the weird guy down in the pool swimming around with a bunch of kids. Plus, I have the pool at school, which DOESN'T have kids and DOESN'T have a dog-leg left in it. And then there's the "weight room." Hardly. The only redeeming quality it has is the scale that I've been trekking over there to use to track my weight loss progress. But neither of these things is enough to want to keep me here. My location with regard to the school is pretty awesome, however. In fact, I'm probably about as close as one can be (one mile), so it makes for a pretty easy commute. However, there are no other teachers around me, and really, it's a pretty boring area. There's another area just northwest of me, over towards the beach, that's the prime location in town. It's only about a 15-minute walk from here (or 4-5 minutes in a tuk tuk), but really, there are no redeeming qualities besides my beloved Hot Chips. So today, I was in getting a reimbursement from the finance department when the director of personnel, Josephine, called me into her office to see how I was doing. She asked me about the custom bed that they made for me and whether it was long enough. I replied honestly and said that while I was delighted that it was now seven feet long (and I could finally sleep comfortably at night without my hair touching my headboard), I didn't love the fact that width-wise, it turned from the size of a king into a twin. But, I told her, I wasn't trying to complain. I appreciated what the school had done for me. Then she told me that this bed was only temporary, and that in three weeks or so, a king sized mattress would be coming and this one was just to tie me over until it gets here. SWEET!!! So then, after that, I was feeling so comfortable, I asked her if she had ever seen my apartment. She said no, so I decided to tell her how it was. Hold no punches. I said, "It's horrible and I hate it." She said, "You know you can move once at the school's expense, right?" I told her that I was aware of this, but didn't want to be the complaining guy and that if I could live for a year in a fraternity house, I could certainly deal with this place. She then asked me if I wanted to check out a place where some other teachers are moving from (too small for them). It's in the best neighborhood and has a beach view, but what comes with that is having to literally see 5-10 guys a day taking a shit on the beach. At first when they told me that they had to deal with this, I laughed and said that maybe it'd be fun to start a blog or website with pictures (far away) of these guys being disgusting animals, but now that I could really do that, I'm not so sure I'm still interested. However, the awesome location and being right across the street from the beach is tempting indeed. She told me my lease was up in October, so I could either take this place, or, if I wanted to wait a bit longer, she'd partner me up with a realtor who'd take me around to look at places. I asked her if I could get in touch with HH International, which is exactly what I'm going to do when I get done with this blog! Probably not a high probability of that actually happening, but still a fun idea.
Alright, gotta go research the HH website...wish me luck!
Ben
HH Intl! I'm in :)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I literally laughed out loud, as I was reading about you on the floor staring into some stranger's eyes. Oh Ben! Hahaha
ReplyDeleteOMG I am so embarrassed. I am sitting here reading your blog in my cubicle at work. I get to the “holding hands with an old Indian man” and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I have a total visual of you doing this… I can almost smell it too ;-)
ReplyDelete