Ok, Make that 5

I made an executive decision at the last minute and threw a fifth pair of shoes into my carryon.  It was actually a practicality decision, not a fashion one.  I realized I will probably have a few days where I'll be doing quite a bit of walking and my "classic standard" shoes aren't great for walking all over; the lifts wear down really quickly.  (I should know, that's my second pair of those in less than a year.)  They're also a bit difficult because of the very steep incline to the shoe, no platform in the font.  The last thing I need to do is fall down the steps in BART again.  So, I grabbed a pair of much more comfortable and easier-to-walk-in shoes that will go with the same outfits as the classic standards.  That way, if I know I'm going to be walking, I can wear my saddle shoes, and if I know we'll be staying in one place or mostly driving, I can wear the classic standards.

 

(P.S. arrived safely in El Cerrito.)

Tutor Tuesday

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had an official BLSA event this week tutoring.  BLSA used to do a weekly event called Tutor Tuesdays, but I never went.  A 1L, not knowing we used to do this, organized it again, so I decided to go.

The tutoring is part of an after-school program called YES.  The elementary students do activities earlier in the afternoon, and by the pictures on the wall, I guess they go on field trips sometimes, too.  When we arrived they were getting ready for study time.  They each had a folder of special center work.  They're suposed to do a certain amount of work from the folder and then they get a treat of getting to read a story book from the bookshelves.

I sat at a table with My Rhyming Twin, which confused the heck out of the girls at our table, because of the whole rhyming thing.  One of them was convinced we were sisters.  (She also wouldn't believe my braids aren't my hair.)  That girl was in 5th grade, and despite being a bit of a bully and full of attitude, managed to do some work with My Rhyming Twin. 

My girl made me feel hopeless.  She was in third grade and just kept saying she couldn't do anything.  I tried to get her to read, but she couldn't read anything over 3 letters long.  We tried sounding out words, but she couldn't do that either.  Plus, she was constantly getting up, going to get a book, turning pages and putting check-marks on everything.  There were girls like that in my classes in grade school; by the time they were 16, they had kids and drug habits.

Despite her not wanting to work at all, the girl kept talking about how much she liked going to the center.  It made me wonder if she just didn't want to go home.  She was only one of two white children at the center, and she ran right up to my table when she got in the room.  I was kind of curious why she came right up to me, but I didn't ask.  Maybe it was because I was only one of two white volunteers (the other was a middle-aged man).  In any case, it made me feel, for once in my life, like my skin had something to offer.

Most of the time I was sitting there (trying to figure out what to do with this girl), I was thinking about The Legend.  They must have programs like this in the East Bay, and this seems like exactly what he needs.  A job doing anything that pays something, and then a place to volunteer and work with kids the rest of the time.  He would have known what to do with that girl.  I was completely at a loss.

Stop the Press! goldenrail Packs 4 Pairs of Shoes for 10 Day Trip!

That sums it up, and it includes the pair I'm wearing on the plane.  I'm scared.  I'm not living up to my reputation.  Can I truly be fabulous with less than 1.25 pairs of shoes for each day I'll be gone?  What is the world coming to?  Next thing you know, I'll be wearing tennis shoes and ballet flats everyday.  Oh the horror!

 

The shoes I'm taking (note: I may not wear the last ones; they're just in case.)

I love my Timbs

  These are my new favorite shoes  Standard classics The back-ups

 

You know, going through my pictures reminded me of a lot of really great other shoes I have, like the ones I wore to the Ball.  That number may just have to go up to 5.  Still much less than it ought to be ;)

Group Class

Earlier this week, The Prez (see Barrister's entry for pic) arranged for an un-official BLSA event, an exercise class at a local studio.   The classes can only hold five students each, so we had to split up into two classes.  I went to an official BLSA tutoring event with My Rhyming Twin earlier in the evening, so she and I went to the later class with her roommie.  (The Prez came to tutoring too, but left a lil early to go to class.)  Somehow - she must be a miracle worker - The Prez talked Mzzzz Jones into going, too.  But, she was in the earlier class.  Ironically, I think she had more fun than me, despite her strong resistance to going.

The class was ok, but like any other dance-style class, I spent most of it frustrated.  With no arm strength and even less abs muscles, I couldn't do much.  There was this one warm up push-up thing, I couldn't even get down to the ground to push back up again!  And when the teacher said stand up, bend over and touch the floor, I almost laughed.  My body never moves the way other people tell it to. 

In fact, the only move I could do was something my sister and I used to do  in our Sunday School classroom at Tippie  (there was some sort of structural pole in the room).  Apparently, it's called a sit-spin.  The class did make me miss ballet though.  With slower movements and a more rigid posture, I can handle that well enough to at least keep up in class.  And I love leaping :)  This class reminded me of when I tried to take hip hop dance lessons.  I'm better off sticking to dancing in my living room.  Less pressure, cheaper too.

Oh well, guess I better find a new back-up plan for if this whole law thing doesn't work out ;)
(just kidding)

More Stories from the Weekend

As I mentioned in my last post, Mr. Trizzle and I had a lot of fun this weekend.  Chinese food, Vietnamese food, and lots of bacon (veggie bacon for me!).

Food

I made my homemade Hot and Sour soup for Mr. Trizzle.  He tried to be nice.  First he said he probably would have liked it better if he hadn't been told the words "hot and sour."  Ok, he likes it but it doesn't taste like hot and sour soup.  Then he says, "it's soup and it's edible," and "hey, I ate everything out of the middle of it."  So now it comes out he doesn't really like it, but it's ok.  Then later he says I shouldn't give it to my friends unless I don't want them to be my friends any more.  So really, not only does he not like it, he thinks it's horrible and inedible!  Fine!  I like it; more for me then. :P  His next words of encouragement: "you're good at cooking bacon."  Oh great, one thing, and I don't even eat it!

Presents

Wednesday was Mr. Trizzle's birthday, so I gave him his birthday  presents this past weekend.  Except for the one I had sent to his office to help brighten it up a bit.  To which his initial response was "who the (vampire) sent me a tree?!"  He also got his Nigerian present since this was the first time I'd seen him since I got back.

I think he liked his presents, even if not enough to take home with him.  (He only does carry-ons, so I'm bringing some of the presents with me on Friday when I go to Cali.)  The Nigerian outfit is rather large, and I'm pretty sure he has no idea what to do with it.  I need to at least get him in it so I can take a picture.

He left one of his birthday presents, too.  The other one was just an it's-coming-in-the-mail printout, so he at least took that sheet of paper.  Since Mr. Trizzle is now an adult with a real job and all that stuff, I got him something every adult should have: stock.  (Mr. Tough Money Love would be proud.)  Mr. Trizzle loves Apple and is always raving about how well the company (and thus its stock) is doing.  I didn't realize when I ordered it that it takes 6-8 weeks to send the stock certificate, so he got a printout.  I just got a notice from FedEx that it is on it's way and should arrive sometime before 4:30 Friday.  It left San Francisco on Tuesday for Oakland and left Oakland today.  Too bad I couldn't have just had Mr. Trizzle pick it up in person!

His other birthday present was an autographed copy of Remix.  (Thank you Creative Commons!)  He claimed he couldn't fit the book in his laptop bag or his suitcase, so I'll be bringing this one on Friday too.

Friends

Mr. Trizzle and I spent Monday evening with Pita and Pita's parents.  I adore Pita's parents and love getting to spend time with them.  Pita is adorable, too.  And usually, very friendly.  She didn't like Mr. Trizzle too much though, he made her cry.  She was sitting on her mommy's lap; he walked over towards them, looked at Pita, paused, and went "blahh ahh ahh" while waving his arms wildly and making a face.  Pita looked at him, looked at her mom, and then started wailing.  Poor thing.  She warmed up to him a bit later and let him hand her Cheerios to throw on the floor.