My Significant Other, Merle, with his new puppy. We adopted her at a local adoptathon. Her name was "Curly Sue," but we swiftly changed it to a much cooler, East Mountain kind of name. Curly Sue just didn't seem like it would fly with his other 3 dogs. Too Wussy! He named her Smokey, because she has such a smoky-colored coat. She is a real cutie and is doing pretty well at fitting in with the others. She follows them everywhere and mimics them, especially Buddy, the biggest dog, who until getting Smokey, happened to be the "baby" of the pack. Now he has to play big brother to Smokey, but seems to be having some fun with her. He growls at her when she starts jumping all over him, but he tends to wag his tail at the same time.
Below is a cute picture of her on the deck.
I guess I should take some inspiration from Buddy because lately I have been challenged by the job I have these days. I have been working for Kelly services and just completed my fourth day working as a receptionist at a charter school near Presbyterian Hospital. This is something like "last chance" charter school for kids who have pretty much lost out on most other options in the public school system. They openly swear and skip classes, speak insolently to me and others, seem quick to judge people in a sort of defensive way, and so forth. The place feels so chaotic sometimes, so much that after my first two days I contemplated telling Kelly Services that I didn't think I could complete the assignment.
So many of these kids have gotten caught up in drugs, gangs, teen pregnancy and abusive relationships. What they probably need more than any schooling is a place where they can experience boundaries. I believe after sticking it out to a fourth day, that I might be able to make it to the end of the assignment, which is on May 28th. I am kind of enjoying it right now, because these kids are really kind of funny and cool, even though they are totally inappropriate, have no sense of what that means at times, and at other times they just don't care about policies and rules. But I know they secretly must be very insecure about their lives. At other times, they say and do things that remind me of how wonderful kids all are, even the ones that society despises.
Yes, society does kind of despise them. There are many people who prefer not to dwell on the worst parts of their own teenaged years, romanticizing them into just wonderful memories. After all, the most painful parts of adolescence include feeling like you can't trust anyone, feeling ugly, hating yourself, fearing that others will not like you, and so forth. I can remember those parts of adolescence better than the good parts because I was so horribly depressed much of high school. My best memories of high school were not in high school, but actually from my time in a church youth group.
I went to a really awesome show at Popejoy Hall on Friday night with Mike and Lisa. They took us out to see Rain, which is a tribute to the Beatles. It was really good. Amazing multimedia stage show. They did a great job reproducing Beatles songs and it was made to make you feel like you were actually seeing them in a concert. I guess Popejoy Hall is a little like some halls they played in England. Well, I have plans tonight. Nothing big, just going to dinner. I don't know where we'll go, but it's going to be nice going out someplace! I need to get some Merle-time in!
Sorry. This isn't much for others to want to read, but then that's not what I use this blog for anyways! I need to go. I will be back soon. -Amy
