How to Eat Healthy and Other Advice

I have NEVER eaten so many meals in my bed.

Yesterday I ate a foul bowl of instant noodles in my bed. Still in the plastic bowl.

Just now I ate a tuna sandwich and a big bowl of peas and carrots in my bed. After work I was so hungry (I attempted to eat foul noodles from yesterday, in a different package but still the same plastic taste and quality, and just gave up. So my lunch of an apple and 5 chocolate covered espresso beans may not have been filling enough)--- sorry for the run on sentence- let's put a period here! Continuing on. After work, I weighed the consequences of stopping and getting Chik-fil-A, or going for a run. Like all rational people, I know Chik-fil-A was the horrid choice. Unnecessary expenditure of calories and money, making the run virtually impossible because of the sheer grease content of the meal, but, like most rational people... I have less self control than I would like. But once I took a swig of that *diet* lemonade- OH IT WAS A DELIGHT! AND WHAT A DELIGHT TO SIT IN MY CAR OUTSIDE MY HOUSE LISTENING TO PUBLIC RADIO AND CHOMP AWAY ON MY WAFFLE FRIES! It was wonderful. I wouldn't change a thing about it. And honestly, if I had tried to run I might have fallen.

I've been running, believe it or not. Three times last week. And I did on Monday. I figure that it won't be getting much better than five hours of sleep and weird food- so I better just train my body to get over it now. It's still painful for the whole 25 minutes. But it wakes me up and makes me much happier. I tell myself running is like a nap, just in a less enjoyable way. Yesterday, however, I KNEW I would pass out if I ran, so I fell asleep for two hours in my bed instead. In my dream, Jonathan saved me from a gang fight, but then later when trapped in the gang car, he made friends with the gangsters. Typical Jonathan. I may have had this dream because Monday after school, my student was driven away in an ambulance because someone knocked him out, and Tuesday, I witnessed a raucous cat fight. I don't know if I can use the word "raucous" as an adjective but I'm going to go out on a limb and try. In any case, it was a raucous. One of the girls was MY student, the one who was forced to leave by the school for not having enough credits from Mexico, and came back to fight for her education for an ENTIRE WEEK, every day, with her mom. And now look. She's in jail. (That's what the kids told me- and I believe it, if you fight where I teach, you go to jail. Especially if you're 18, like this chiquita.)

Here's a book you should read- A Framework for Understanding Poverty - this is one of the most legit books I have ever read- it goes into the details and hidden rules of poverty, middle class, and wealth. Some things I learned are...

~In poverty the only asset you have is your personality, so it better be entertaining.
~You have to know how to defend yourself physically. Whether you want to or not.
~There is a high noise level, and stories are participatory. There's no one-person-talks-we-all-listen-thing.

Soooo.... you could guess that ALMOST ALL schools are run by hidden middle class rules. Want to know what those are? Read the book. So if your students are not middle class, you need to TEACH them things that are expected, that a middle-classer may take for granted. If this sounds like I'm stereotyping, well, neighborhoods do a great job of dividing people up by stereotype.

I've been reading Mark and trying to figure out what sort of teacher Jesus is. Here is a conclusion I have come to...

If a child doesn't perceive you love them, they won't learn a THING, no matter how much you simplify it.

Now, children who are loved by someone other than their teacher may certainly learn things in school. But imagine not having a single emotional resource in your life (THIS is the decidedly most powerful factor in getting out of poverty- EMOTIONAL RESOURCES- someone who loves you.)

How do you display love and share the gospel with kids who a. don't understand English or b. are full of hatred or c. don't respect anyone including themselves ... I'M NOT SURE! Sometimes I just SAY IT! "I'll pray for you/ Jesus has helped me a lot/ You know Jesus can help you?", sometimes I pray for them at home, most of the time I love them in my way at school- and everyone has a different way of loving other people. I fear that my way may make me look like a pushover or a mom or less of an adult BUT that is the way God has equipped me and if that's the way I love I'm going to love that way until I learn otherwise and pray that God fills in all the cracks! That is also a common prayer in the car on the way home- "PLEASE MEND OVER THE DAMAGE I DID TODAY. PLEASE LET THESE KIDS KNOW YOU LOVE THEM. PLEASE FIGHT FOR THEM."

For example I would assume an inner city teacher needs to be good at TOUGH LOVE well I am most certainly NOT I am good at "tell me about your life" love and "I like your jacket today" love and I'll smile at you and give you a hug love. Praise God for putting us in situations we are completely unqualified for. That's just how He does.

Some personal updates ARE I bought a car- praise the Lord- I signed up for health insurance today- PRAISE THE LORD my job gives me that but ALSO adulthood is just ridiculous. I actually researched quarter-life crises a few nights ago and discovered they occurred when all the realities of adulthood hit you and suddenly you wonder if all your education was for what you really even wanted and some people even change every thing they were going for, and you're not where you THOUGHT you should be and it's distressing, and on a personal note I will add intensely frustrating.. As Hanna put it, "it's amazing you've postponed this for so long", and she is right, it's a part of growing up that we all have to do at some point. Not to be melodramatic but I could have filled a swimming pool up with as much as I cry lately. And what a nasty swimming pool that would be.

I will conclude with some driving tips in case you are ever in Oklahoma City:
1. Do NOT use a turn signal to change lanes on the interstate. IF you do, for example attempt to merge from the left to right exit lane using a turn signal, the car behind you will fly around you to the right, and then cut you off, making not only your exit impossible but causing you a lot of anger and confusion. Using a turn signal tells the other members of the interstate pack that you are a weakling who needs to be passed - on the right lane or the left- it's unimportant. In the case that you do need to change lanes, floor the gas and cut someone off- the element of surprise is key.

2. Stay a good distance from the backs of cars if at all possible (this will often be thwarted by drivers zooming into, and sometimes right across, your lane) because frequent braking is COMMON on the interstate (yes I was taught not to brake on an interstate too- apparently the backwoods redneck roads DUMPED their inhabitants onto an eight-lane seventy mile an hour interstate, and the rules of the angry country driver apply here). That's just something you'll have to adjust to.

3. You may stick a Ferrari emblem on your red Mitsubishi Eclipse if you so choose.

4. When driving on 45-mph suburb roads, STAY ALERT, you never know when a woman in an electric wheelchair will come zooming down your lane- against the flow of traffic. (That was today).

5. It is acceptable to hang silver male genitalia underneath the back of your vehicle. (I'm sorry to mention this, but I wouldn't, had I not seen it TWICE- once from an enormous truck (understandable), and the second time from a small Honda Accord (?)

6. Nobody honks, but it won't change a thing if you do.

P.S. If you like blues, enjoy this. If not, let the sweet, sweet guitar of Derek Trucks change your mind.