Howdy

Well, it's been a bit silent here as of late. I definitely feel responsible and derelict in my duties.

I certainly apologize for not being around much, but I was in the middle of a grueling, emotionally taxing, job search and it really ended up getting me down. You'd think that this city would be breaking down my door to hire me as a Kindergarten teacher, but that isn't quite the case. I finally, after a few miserable weeks of being a day-to-day sub at various schools around the city, ran into a teacher from my substitute teaching school a couple of weeks ago at breakfast. She asked if I had found a job, I said that I hadn't, and she mentioned that because the school had recently been designated as "low performing", they were able to hire, and still in need of, a site support sub. I signed the paperwork today. I don't have a classroom of my own, but I'm at this one school [3 blocks from my apartment] everyday supporting all of the other teachers, and the school as a whole, in whatever way they need me to.

In case you haven't noticed yet, I got a new poll going over to the right. Only one person voted to have the reunion before Christmas day. Therefore, it looks like we're having it after, and the choices are the first few days after Christmas Day. What with my now having a job to go to every day, it looks like coming back to Chesterton for Christmas is in my cards. In fact, I'm hoping to come back for 10 or 11 days [school isn't in session the week before and the week after Christmas]. Things got SO desperate recently that there was a good amount of time where I seriously considered moving back to Chesterton to live with my parents for 6 months or so. I thought it would be a good way to save money and try to reconnect with the family. It was also suggested by a friend that I move down to Indianapolis and live with my little brother and sister-in-law and be their live-in nanny [they are expecting their first child at the beginning of March] - which I would SO do. But, this new job came through, and it looks like I'm going to try to make here in San Francisco for a little while longer. If you feel like, for whatever reason, you need more info on what I've been doing the last couple of months, be sure to visit my personal blog - the link is on the sidebar over to the right. Yeah, I've still been updating that one periodically.

I certainly hope that everyone checks in here soon and we can get this thing in motion again. I really do think it's a great, easy, free way for us to reconnect and stay in touch. I may not have felt like posting anything recently, but I've still be coming here every few days to see if anyone else has put anything up. I'm still dedicated, and I hope that you all are as well.

Diana, any luck getting in touch with Snearly's family?

Oh, and I realized that I selfishly never gave any kind of update about what I've been doing since CHS. Here it is:

I went down to IU and intended to get my teaching license [elementary school] by graduating from the School of Education. I went through the program, did a semester of student teaching in a 2/3 grade classroom at a cute, rural elementary school. I still had a couple of "elective" units to fill, and, never filled them. In essence, I dropped out of school to work at various places that I had always wanted to work. I worked at an "arthouse" movie theatre for a few months, worked at a coffee shop/bread shop for awhile, worked at Ben & Jerry's [ice cream is still my favorite food ever] for a couple of years, and then worked in MUSIC STORES for a bunch of years. I was in Bloomington for 8 years and finally decided that I needed a change so I moved out here to San Francisco in 1997 with a friend who was coming out here for school. I worked for a couple of years in a music store here, and then started temping, hoping to find "my passion". While working in boring office after boring office, I finally realized that I needed to go back to school and get my teaching credential. I finished up my B.A. in 2002, and then did a 2 year teaching program, at San Francisco State.

I'm still voraciously into music, with a CD collection that has crested 1000 [and, now that I have a steady, well-paying job, I hope to keep that number on the rise]. I still love the Cure [saw them live a month ago], I'm still a diehard Tears for Fears fan [I'm going to see them at the end of November - Curt AND Roland are back together with a new album!], and my life still has a constant soundtrack. I'm still a TV addict. Current favorite shows: Arrested Development, 24, Alias, AMAZING RACE [!!!], the Apprentice, Scrubs, Six Feet Under, Starting Over [daytime reality show...], and Lost. Favorite show of ALL TIME: Felicity.

Oh, and, roundabout 1991, I realized that I'm gay. I imagine that it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone - in fact, I'm guessing that I was the last to know. You just can't fathom how much coming to that realization turns your world on it's head. I mean, it just sends you into a total tailspin and makes you question everything you ever thought you knew about yourself and the world around you. In many senses, coming out was a great relief. Certainly, for a long time I knew that there was something about myself that I wasn't 100% conscious of, and so finally figuring it out was a HUGE breath of fresh air. But, there are lots of other questions and hardships that come along with it. So, I've been with the same guy, Brian, for 8 years now [we met at IU], and we have 2 cats - Macon and Sam.

Ok, that's enough. Hopefully I've made up for a bit of lost time...