Ugh... you know that you're spending WAY too much time playing video games when even in your dreams, you appear as a "pixelated" video game character, running around blowing things up and fighting an army full of boulder men, with "Rampage-like" buildings in the background. (All you 80s babies, you know what I'm talking about!)

Take note of the time... this is how late I stay up correcting tests for my students. I can't help but think that every wrong answer on their scantron is a direct failure on my part. I keep wondering if there was something more I could've said or done to improve their scores. The worst thing about it all is knowing that tomorrow will be the last day and I haven't felt like I've accomplished anything; I haven't changed anything yet. Is this how teachers feel? I can only hope that I've never made a teacher feel like a failure, because if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the person that I am today...

Congratulations to Kenny Lee for meeting the Jamie Challenge!

Wow, nice guys do exist! Too bad they go to Claremont McKenna!!!!! Boo! Who'd have thought this teaching gig would've had such perks?!

This past week has been one major blur... at least I know that my social life isn't suffering, but man, I'm sooo tired!

Wednesday
Out with Gabs, Tracy and David... After trying to get my professor to stop talking to me in an on-line conference, (Topic: Me questioning why I got an A on my paper and Professor Dana defending it ... yes, I'm a nerd.) we went out to celebrate David's be-lated birthday. Destination: TGI Friday's. Donned with balloons, David looked pretty spiffy for his birthday bash. David enlightened us with a bit of "David-ism." (He could probably be the next Dr. Phil, just meaner.) After dinner, Tracy started driving, and we ended up in Santa Monica. David took us through this pee-infested stairway to get to the pier. (We were ready to make a run for it should some serial murderer jump out and attack us.) Miraculously, we all made it to the pier, where we looked for a bathroom of our own. Note to self: Santa Monica bathrooms are disgustingly dirty!!!! And with that, our bathroom trip concluded our visit to Santa Monica. David drove back, giving us a tour of his own backyard; Cal State LA and a real-life castle!

Thursday
Totally spur of the moment. Our party of two (Kris and me) expanded exponentially with one call. Were we on an outing or launching a space shuttle?! Ruben called me with the "status" and soon after, we were onto Stage 1: meeting at Kris' house. Stage 2 was getting to our destination: Speedzone. (Much props to Erick for being a true man and asking for directions!) Stage 3 was driving through this dark road filled with blind turns at dangerous speeds. (Were we drag racing?!) After being utterly lost and confused (Ruben's plan), we ended up at a pool hall. Three games later, we were back in familiar territory: Atlantic Square's IHOP. (Boo! I wanted Norms!) Gabs was being bad. Geez, can't take her anywhere!!!!

Friday
Jerry's game... cute Rampage coach was there. Downside: He has a girlfriend!

In other news... I went to the doctor's and realized that I'm so problematic. I have asthma and allergies! Jerry and I both walked out with goodie bags (inhalers and nasal spray) ... I love my kids so much that I sacrificed a Friday to go shopping for them. Their (P)SAT Survival Kits were prepared with love and care. (Much props to Kelly, Bryan, and Kristen for putting up with my dictatorship.)

Saturday
Sat at a park bench with my mommy while watching Terri play tennis. This was actually the first time I've ever seen her play. (Why didn't I go to watch her games back when I was still in high school?!) She's actually really good, she can even hang with most of the guys! Later that evening, it was onto Jerry's basketball game. Quite an exciting game! They went into Sudden Death (there's no Double OT in the Jet's Tournament), and lost by a point. Total bummer, but definitely an awesome game to have witnessed.

I feel like I lead a double life with my night life... So, a movie. Sounds pretty simple, right? Our plan to grab burgers at In N Out and then watch Austin Powers failed miserably. The boys neglected to say which In N Out. I admit, even I couldn't find my way to the Puente In N Out to save the day. (Heehee, sorry Mike! I was so sure I knew where we were going!) Our 9:55 showing of Austin Powers turned into the 10:45 showing. But nothing a quick Johnny Rockets' burger couldn't solve. (Food solves everything!) We finally managed to chase each other all down with our cell phones. (Remember how in the movie Clueless, all them rich kids had a cell phone and we all thought that it was so unrealistic? Welcome to the 21st century... someone even phoned me 10 feet away from me. Thanks for wasting my minutes, buddy. I was simply showing Gabs all my new ringtones.) We concluded the night at Denny's where Mike bravely tried the Grasshopper Blender Blaster. Back at my house by 2am, we chatted til 4... what a night....

Sunday
Woke up early to get to Jerry's early game. Went out for Dim Sum, and finally crashed on the living room couch in the afternoon.

Revelation of the week: I'm still living in the past. The moment has passed, and so should I...

So what do I do on a Friday night? Well, instead of writing my paper like a good girl would've, I tagged along with my mommy to sit through my brother's basketball practice. PRACTICE, it wasn't even a game!!!! Anyway, I watched Jerry's new coach (my daddy's co-worker, Kenny) coach, watched my mommy crochet (she's amazing!), and then got scared about my essay and did a bit of research. Kenny kept making fun of me. It's crazy how long I've known him. He said that his impression of me will always be of when he first met me, just a little baller chick. (I dreamed of the NBA, cuz WNBA wasn't around yet.) Anyway, I guess to him, I'll always be that tomboy-ish Jamie.

This summer heat is so unbelievably hot! I sit in front of my computer and I sweat! (LOL, maybe perspire is a better word...) Anyway, I feel like I'm in such a rut. Perhaps it's due to the heat, but I feel like my life is on cruise control. Each day, I don't wake up until 9 or 10am, only to get ready to go to work by 12:30. (I usually don't get there til 1pm anyway, cuz I gotta take Jerry to basketball practice.) Once in class, I just get in the zone and I feel like I'm just through the motions; things just kinda fall into place. I know I'm teaching cuz by the end of the day, I'm so pooped. But it's that 2.5 hours that I'm actually teaching that I feel like I'm not. I know it sounds strange, and maybe it's a good thing because I may just be a natural-born teacher? At least that's what Mrs. Wellenstein says. (I'm sure Tony would second that.)

Anyway, it's not that I don't have lots of excitement in my life... but the highlight of my day is coming home to watch "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill." Then late into the night, I play with my siblings, everything from chess to all our N64 games. (Ack! Somebody help me...)

I used to think that Existentialism was pretty cool, but it comes to a point where too much philosophy can be bad for a person's health! I have a student who believes in Existentialism so much that he feels that nothing in life is important, needless to say, including my class. It doesn't bother me all that much that he doesn't wanna pay attention, but what really gets to me is that he feels that everything in his life is pointless. It frustrates me so much that I can't change the way he thinks b showing him that lots of people care about him and that what he does matters. I feel so useless not being able to do anything to help him. But then again, maybe he doesn't want my help... Darn that Mr. Gonzalez, corrupting his mind! For a 15-year old, Existentialism isn't very healthy!!!!

I came home reeking of cigarettes!!!! What was supposed to be a nice bowling rendezvous with Keith, Elvio (Keith's friend), Kris and me turned out to be a huge Schurr c/o 2001 reunion, plus boyfriends, plus two San Marino boys at Embassy, playing billards in a smoke-infested pool hall. Interesting night though... topped it off by making a pit stop at Shau May. It's gotta be Shau May if you're cruisin' Monterey Park.

My dog, Kobe, is 5 years old, and I'm just barely finding out that he speaks Chinese!! My Boston Terrier understands Chinese and was born in Japan... man, he must be confused.

Sometimes, life just doesn't get any better than this...

I know I'm still young, but sometimes, I just can't help wishing that I could look through some magic crystal ball to see what the future holds in store for me. That dream of mine to be the next Marcia Clark will probably always have a special place in my heart, but the more I live life, the more I realize that my true calling may actually lie elsewhere. I remember talking to Juan maybe 2-3 years ago. (He was always quite the philosophical thinker.) I could never understand why he didn't want to become a lawyer when he was clearly terrific at it. But I think I finally figured it out today. It's about chasing after that dream and doing what you really love, instead of what you're good at.

I am starting to believe that I was built to teach. Teachers should teach according to each student, not as a huge ensemble. Teachers should try to reach out to each student and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. It's been a long time since I've had a teacher do that for me. Maybe I'm naiive, but I strongly believe that each child is a diamond in the rough, just waiting for someone to come along and help them learn. To me, teaching a child is easy. It makes me so upset when teachers or parents just give up and think that a child is stupid. Nobody's stupid, they just haven't been helped yet. And for many, they won't be helped simply because nobody believes in investing a bit of time in them.

I always thought that I would be extremely happy teaching. But for some reason, all my past teachers tell me to go into law. Even Ms. Clark tells me to do so, cuz apparently she thinks that I'd make a great prosecutor. Nothing would please my dad more than for me to make lots of money and be a big time attorney.

What started out like an ordinary day may have changed a lot of my perceptions today. I dropped my brother off at basketball camp today. Then I hung around to chat with Erin for a bit. (She had just dropped off Justin.) Anyway, who comes along but the new JV coach, Sean Dixon. (Yay, Sean!) We all chatted some more. But what made the conversation so great was realizing that we were all doing something with our lives, as insignificant as we may think it is, we're actually making it out there in the real world. It kinda made me hopeful of the future. It just might prove interesting...

*pan to 20 years later* A semi-aged Jamie pulling into the Schurr staff parking lot, parking in what is now Mr. Anderson's parking spot. She gets out and sees Coach Dixon, spinning a basketball in one hand. "How's the team doing, Coach?" she asks. "They made CIF," says Sean. Moments later, the successful wedding planner, Erin, pulls up in her stylish mini-van, dropping off her children to school. They all stop to chat and reminisce about their old high school days. Each has become very prominent, touching the hearts of many people and enjoying a prosperous life.

*pan back to the present* So, where do I go from here? I know I would love to be a teacher, but at the same time, would I be happy teaching while knowing that I could have also been a succssful DA? Myabe I should try to be more like Juan. I've always looked up to him (probably cuz he's taller than me). He taught me that it's okay to listen to your heart instead of what everybody else says. Granted, he's also very stubborn at times... but I think he just might be onto something this time...

Either way, today proved to have given me a good feeling, just thinking about the future...

Sitting here with my A&W Rootbeer and a huge stack of tests, grading away... My kids did well on the Analogies section! That was the only section I've really been able to teach. Imagine how high I can raise their scores AFTER I teach them all the other sections! I can't wait to see how smart they've all become by the end of this workshop.

Yes Ben, I know... another entry that warrants a "Freakin' Jamie, you're such a nerd."

On the upside, Kris and I just spent a nice and relaxing weekend up at Mammoth. Just Kris, me, her two darling brothers (hehe), Aunt MeiMei and Mary. It was so much fun; lots of fishing (I caught a fish!) and sunbathing by the pool. We hit the jacuzzi and sauna practically everyday. Instead of fireworks, Mammoth Lakes hosted a laser show. But it was more like a Powerpoint show. (It sucked!) We did bump into Jane and Jilly, so that was cool! We also watched MIB II. In honor of Frank, "Now I'm back... from outta space..."

Recap of Mammoth: We slept, ate, fished, slept, ate, swam, slept, ate, watched movies, and slept and ate some more. Oh yeah, we also listened to Harry "Chronic" Jr. (Kenny and Kevin are such crackups!) Definitely a fun weekend!

(Gabs - I just topped you. Mine is younger.)

Ack! I've been replaced by a skootchie!!! It used to be my house you kicked it at, buddy!!!!

Whoa, what a weekend...

Saturday
I worked all day at the Schurr High School Speech/Cheerleading/REnaissance fireworks booth. It's at the corner of Whittier and Concourse :hint hint: It was a lot of fun. I sold myself from 9am to 6pm so that my brother could have some decent fireworks. (Instead of getting paid in money, I settled for a pack of fireworks.) After working, I went out to a baby shower. It was good food, one of those crazy 9-course Chinese dinners, red carpet included. It was my cousin's one month birthday, so cute! I felt so bloated afterwards, as if I was gonna go into a "food coma," or so Ben calls it. Haha, little did I know that my night had only begun...

Peter called me up around 9pm, asking if I wanted to go hang with him. Since I hadn't seen Petey in so long, of course I wanted to! I figured Gabs was probably bored at home too, so I decided we should call her up. Gabs had already made plans w/ Smitti, so he was to come along as well. Then I find out that Petey had called up Spanky, and so I told Smitti to call up his Supa-B friends. Before we knew it, our party of 3 had turned into a mob. But I love hanging out w/ all my friends, so it was all good. However, somewhere along the 60 freeway, we went our separate ways, leading Gabs, Petey, Spanky and me down the 101 to Club Kiis. It was definitely an interesting experience, getting groped all over the place. I've never been so happy to get away from Kobe! (Dude dressed in a Kobe jersey kept dancing WAY too close to us for my taste!) Petey and Spanky played knight in shining armor for the night, as they saved as time and again from random scary dudes. (Gabs and I got pretty good at ducking from grabby guys.) Anyway, the night ended with us meeting up with the Supa-B boys at Dennys, loitering around at 3am. Fun stuff....

Sunday
Jerry played another beautiful game today. He was the leading point scorer again this week, with 14 points! Man, he had soooo many steals! It was great watching him play... my baby is growing up so fast! Anyway, the night proved to be just as fun as I went to go catch a Sound of Hawai'i concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Man, another night filled w/ good food. Vicky hosted a awesome luau, complete w/ kahlua pork, rice, salmon, poi, pineapples, and mango/pineapple/rum punch (NOT something I drank!) The music was awesome too. I think I'm really starting to like Hawaiian music, thanks to Kris and Caleb. I even knew one of the songs, cuz I heard it on Caleb's playlist. (Apparently some Maui heartthrob dude performed tonight. Lots of screaming girls.) Ooh, by the way, I met Mr. Campbell's son, Chris, today. He's not as refined as Mr. Campbell, but definitely a FUNNY guy. I had fun laughing with him (or rather, at him).