First Day of School 2006-2007!

wow! i have the coolest kids! but i think almost every teacher says that about their kids on the first day of school. the kids this year seem to really want to learn english. i am still feeling out the staff and the students so i can't really say anything more than this. so far nothing interesting have come up. i do love the fact that my kids from last year came by to say hi to me. for some reason, i feel like i get points from my students now when they see my old students sneak a peek in my room and flash their waved hands. of course, feeling a little sense of pride, i automatically think i humble myself, "kids from last year, don't mind them, i taught them better manners than that!"

i have the usual cast of characters from different parts of the world, but this time i have a student that's from brazil! now this is the reason why i love my job! i just love for them to share their experiences with the rest of the class. of course, i wouldn't mind if their parents work at a restaurant, and they give me a discount....hehehehehehehe

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus?!?!

what? try men are normal and women are abnormal. by the way, this is just a man waisting time before the usa basketball team commences an ass whooping 3:30 in the morning western time. i'm probably going to get an ass whoopin...or better yet, a withholding of sex for a while...determined by the abnormal half of this relationship.

1. normal: peanut butter abnormal: almond butter. cost five times more than the garden variety and seven times more if you buy it at whole foods. yes, it is better but almost everyone in the western world grew up with peanut butter.

2. normal: trader joes abnormal: whole foods. who said organic shit have to be expensive? abnormal people think the more expensive, the more organic it is. or the more explanation on the wrapper, the more healthy it is. they are still using the same amount of plastic to package them.

3. normal: basketball shoes abnormal: masai barefoot technology. they are ugly. and if my wife joins a MBT exercise group, i'm going to laugh my head off.

4. normal: ice cream abnormal: soy cream? not as creamy!

5. normal: reasonable and sensible abnormal: if you think you are more reasonable and sensible. just help me wash the dishes....that's all....a reasonable request.

The Magic Bullet?!?!

alright...this is no joke. we actually bought an infomercial product thanks to all the gift certificates we received from our wedding. we've had it for a few days now and i still have yet to take it out of the box. but the possibilities are endless with this one. i can see myself make a variety of hummus, different kinds salsa, various kinds of pasta sauce, other kinds of appetizers or dips. more importantly, i can see leyla making something out of all the fruit she has in our fridge...yes, even leyla can make something out of the different kinds of mango she has in the fridge: fresh mango, dried mango, frozen mango, unsweetened mango. maybe she can make mango butter!?!?! hell, they make almond butter, pumpkin butter, why not mango butter?

we can even make lethal fruit coctails for all the guests we have yet to invite to our place! i wonder if you can do cake or brownie mix with this instrument? if it can, this might be the next great invention just below the discovery of fire, the wheel and plastic! i hear you can make ice cream also!

if i step back for a moment, and read this entry, i probably sound like my mother trying to convince my father to buy this thing.

Bleak Star Test Results

another year of bleak star test results! for the most part, we have had continued improvements in most of the sections. but it really sucks that i look at the failures. i mean there are a couple of sections that we showed no improvements. then you think to yourself, "am i responsible for these numbers?"

what really sucks is that we are still one of the lowest in san francisco. i guess there isn't much to expect from our school considering a fourth of our school are newcomers. but even our english only students performed under the average! having to go back and deal with these numbers will be a humbling experience. teachers will have to look at each other knowing we have made very little difference. this sucks!

My First Ride In A Limo

i don't think i have ever ridden in a limo until this past weekend. it was completely unexpected! leyla and i flew down south to orange county for the weekend to celebrate her sister and her birthday. it took their whole family a while to pick us up. we thought perhaps there was traffic (a common excuse).

as we were looking out for her father's car, a big huge limo rolled in front of us. jokingly, leyla told me to open up the door. we both laughed. i mean who the hell would pick anyone up in a limo. then next thing you know, her sister pops her little head out the front window and told us to get in. What?!?!!?!

we got picked up in a limo! i guess her father decided to celebrate her sister's birthday by getting her a limo for that night. i don't think most of us were very familiar to limo rides because we felt like being in a boat on rough seas. i mean we were swaying back in forh every time the driver broke. maybe the driver sucked! not a smooth ride at all. i guess leyla's dad's point was: this is how you roll with the momenys.

Marriage Life Isn't So Easy!

Well...at least the first month felt that way. six months ago, i heard how great it will be. we will be together, sharing everything. i don't recall anyone ever telling me how it can be difficult. i guess its one of those things people do. why bring up the hardships? you are only admitting to the difficulties of your relationship. no one likes to do that...

well...we are together and we are sharing everything and it isn't easy! our problems stem on the fact that we are very proud individuals. i am the oldest in my family and i get what i usually want. i'm the trailblazer, and i lead the way. for leyla, she is an independent woman who takes pride in making decisions....career or otherwise. we are both realtively succesful...or at least our parents are veryproud of us. we never really have experienced taking compromises in our personal lives. we have never lived with anyone else and we never imagined how difficult it feels compromising. i have yet to understand that our decisions are ours....so i end up delegating them. if it doesn't work, i sure didn't do it. if it does work, i don't mind taking part of the credit. it annoys the hell out of leyla....ooops! and also, we both feel like we can accept mistakes well, but deep inside we both aren't good at it yet.

by the way, these annoyances have caused fights between us! clearly a manifestation of how hard headed, obstinate, proud dipshits we are.

but here are other things that bothers leyla about me:
1. i keep saying "what" even though i have heard it already. in my defense, i just want to make sure what she is trying to say. sometimes, i am thinking of something else and i didn't hear her. she finds it disrespectful! i want to just say "yes" to everything, but she will bring it up later on and will ask me what we have decided, and i will be at a lost. "i'm sorry" is usually a common response on my part.

2. she hates it when i am too critical. she thinks i am too judgemental. i think i am critical, and i am like that with my basketball team, students and family. but i don't expect it from my friends. i guess it's because they don't have to be. with this one, she will have to accept. i will have to be very careful and not make her feel like she is walking on eggshells. hopefully, like my family, she will get used to it or she'll just have to sometimes humble me and tell me to "shut the f*** up." we are more than friends now.

okay...my turn...what really bother me about leyla:
1. hasty, whimsical decisions! "oh i like this in our living room" -so we would buy it. usually there would be travel time, loading, and assembly involve, and usually i am the one. but several hours later, "oh this one is better!" we'll just have to sell this one and buy this one" ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! more loading, more travel time, more assembly...all this are running in my head.

2. misunderstandings. sometimes we will say things that are misunderstood. it bothers one of us...but we choose the difficult path and implement the silent treatment assuming that the other should already know why one is very bothered or offended. this is both our fault. again we both failed in allowing for communication to resolve the issue until we sulk for several hours.

anyways, all of these issues have put a strain in our relationship but in the end, we decide to keep on making this work. i like it when we make up....its fun! if you know what i mean......hehehehehe more importantly, fights aren't so bad. they tend to make the relationship stronger in the end. granted its a little unnerving...but things are going well. fighting is part of loving....hmmmmm who would have thought.....

hope this helps any of you out there who are thinking of marrying..................and get yourself a good set of boxing glvoes instead!