My MBRT aka 'Don't Hate Me, Forever, I'm Better Late Than Never...'

I have spent a good portion of this week amazed by the success of this 'reunion tour'.  I do not fully believe I am a target member of said reunion.  First, because though my blogging is incredibly sporadic and infrequent, I have never 'left' this site.  Second, because I am quite far on the periphery, combined with low enough self-esteem to question, 'well, who the hell cares if I write this anyway?' if I posted it.

That said, I think it's nice that everyone is pretending to start fresh, so it could be a chance to meet some new people, and learn new things about people I already read about when I sign-in here.  I figure, here are other people who also make the choice to put their feelings out there for public consumption as opposed to just keeping a Word document or actual paper diary.  People want to read and be read. 

So, I guess it's time for my intro.  ((clears throat))  My name is Emily and I am 24 years old.  I am a New Yorker born and raised, and though I do not currently live there, I still consider it my home and miss it terribly.  I will NEVER refer to myself as a resident of Massachusetts, or as I refer to it, a Masshole.  I am a teacher.  I do not teach your run-of-the-mill kids - I have the students who everyone else is 'afraid' of.  I have the kids who when mad will bite and kick and call you a 'fucking asshole' (mind you, the oldest one is 10).  I do get bruised from time to time, but I love my job.  I love my babies, and I would fight for them until I died.  It may not sound rewarding (my roommate is FOREVER questioning me, 'do you really think it's worth it?  do you really think you're making a difference?' and the answer is always, even after a BAD day....YES) to a lot of people, but there is little else I could see myself doing with my life that would make me happy. My job allows me to take stock of all that I have going on for me in my life, and be appreciative of it.  I keep track of my teaching life at 1styearteacher even though now I am a 2nd year teacher (I don't want randomhighjinx to not be my friend anymore because I'm one of those weirdos who has a 2nd blog ;)) - feel free to read it.

The rest of this blog is going to be little things about myself you probably don't know.  You probably don't care to know, but it's your choice to read or not to read.

-- I am not really a tv-and-movies kinda girl.  The question, "did you see ______?" is almost always met with "no".  At present, I do not own a television, and I'm more than okay with it.  Most new things that come out do not interest me.  I continue to sporadically watch episodes of The Office online, but continue to miss the appeal it has to the general masses.  I do enjoy reruns of shows, like the Simpsons, Friends, and Full House, and have recently started watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" with my roommate because then I can call my friend Mike and share his favorite show with him.

-- I have a very clear memory of the Summer of 1993, being at my camp its first season, and celebrating the end of Color War by releasing helium balloons.  Let me clarify:  Everyone else celebrated.  I bawled at the thought of those balloons getting into the ocean and killing whales.  Most of the time, that 8 year old still walks around inside me.

-- I love listening to people's opinions.  I actually don't have very many fully-formed ones of my own, though as I grow older and experience more, I'm getting more.  I tend to see both (or all 5) sides to a situation, and have a hard time deciding which one is RIGHT.  Ergo, I love hearing people talk passionately about a cause or issue, I love getting an extra kernel of information to try to help me figure out my own stance on something.  DO NOT confuse my naivete with apathy; I am acutally quite invested in the idea of change and policy and fairness, but I cannot yet speak about them.  I don't like spouting words or waxing poetic about things I know nothing about.

-- I AM A BASEBALL PERSON.  You better believe I still log in to mlb.com during the off-season, that I have a count-down 'til Spring Training and wish my friends a 'Happy First Day of Spring Training!' each year, and you better believe I get SERIOUSLY wrapped up in it.  I get very attached to certain players, even players not on one of 'my' teams, and try to keep up with them as well as the ones I am expected to (Joe Mauer before he became a hot topic, Mark Teixeira after his first Home-Run Derby, Derrek Lee, Vladdie, Scott Kazmir...).  On that note...YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SWAY ME AWAY FROM MY TEAMS (mainly, the Yankees and the Cubs).  Say as much as you want, but just like I'm not going to get you to come over to my side of the argument, I'm not going to suddenly switch over to yours.  I am loyal to my teams.  Say whatever you want about them, and about fans, but know this:  Real fans still wear their jerseys and caps when their team has a shitty, last-place year.  My family was going to games and cheering when we finished DEAD LAST... If you wanna talk fair-weather fans, look at some of the teams that have won the WS since 2004; suddenly, the # of people around and online rocking a team's hat, especially after a win is tri-fold. Either you like a team or you don't.  You are NOT a real fan if you only like them when they win.  To sum, I am a baseball person, and would love new people to talk about our nation's past time with.  All team loving is welcome, as long as you're respectful :).

-- I am a music DORK.  I mean...look at the title of this entry!  I quoted MxPx for Pete's Sake!  Just like baseball, I am always looking for people to talk music with.  I have absolutely cried at concerts because I've been so happy the band performed/upset they didn't play for 3 hours to be sure they got ALL the songs I wanted to hear in.  I have also gone to shows where I didn't know a single act playing that night, and had a DAMN good time of it.
ACTUALLY, 'twas music that brought me here to Mindsay in the first place. I had heard this song, I can't remember where, but really loved it.  Naturally, I decided to Google the lyrics so I could know who sang this song.  One of the first search results was a Mindsayer who had posted the lyrics to her journal.  I went to click it to read it, but it said 'you must log in or sign up to read _________'s entry'.   I did, and stayed.

In case you were wondering, the song is "Question" by Old 97s.  Enjoyable.

And, that's it. Have wondrous evenings, and if you wanna say hi, please do :)